Monster Girl Quest: The Legion
by The Inexplicable Presence
Summary: A new power is rising, only seeking conquest and bloodshed in the name of a foreign God... But are they really the barbarians they seem to be? And is their God really divine at all?
1. The Story of Creation

**_DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything, as per usual._**

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Once, long ago, there was nothing. And then, there was suddenly something, from an event commonly called the Big Bang, which created everything, and is still going on to this day, from the most minuscule atomic string, to the grandest and largest multiverses.

It is commonly agreed that this event was perhaps the biggest accident to be ever made. Most people complain about accidentally impregnating or getting pregnant far too early, or suffering from social anxiety, or being caught and raped by god-knows-what that freak called a Monster Girl is, or being the target of either the wrath or worryingly yandere affections of a Goddess (it is still being debated to this day which one is worse). Perhaps they should blame the event that made this all possible in the first place. Or maybe it's just them not doing well. One of the two. Or maybe another choice.

... Proceeding on from that event, there wasn't a whole lot of well... anything. At this point, it was mostly cosmic "soup" or "sludge" or "sewage" or whatever one wants to call the primordial mists of creation. Generally speaking, there were about Six Elements: Light, Darkness, Air, Earth, Water, and Heat. In time, Light came to be referred to as "Holy" in some cases, Air became known as "Wind," and Heat became known as "Fire." Why the planet we all live on is called Earth when most of it is water, nobody knows. Oh, there was also an element known as "Chaos" as well, commonly occurring when the explosive relationship between Light and Darkness somehow did not occur and instead Light and Darkness fused. It came to be a rather massive headache multiversally speaking, with beings known as "Apoptosis" trying to regulate and stop it from destroying everything.

It's a rather wildly debated topic, one that's, unthankfully, quite irrelevant to the creation of the personifications of the various elements. First, from the Light, spawned a being that came to be known as "Ilias." She was quite the loner, almost depressingly so.

From the Darkness, came a whor-, Elemental, known as "Alipheese." Well, "Alipheese the First," or "Primal Alipheese," to be exact. She didn't do much at first.

From the Air, came a being known as "Sylph." She was, unsurprisingly for a runty child of the wind, a massive airhead.

From the Earth, came a mute known as "Gnome." She didn't like to talk. Sometimes it's wondered if she even has a mouth under her clothes, which is a stupid debate, because technically these beings don't even have corporeal forms at this point as no such thing exists, and later on they all show that they have mouths. Of course, people still theorize and make stupid arguments over it, which leads to fighting. Maybe this is why she's silent so much. Because she's expressing massive disappointment in the stupidity of sentient beings.

From the Water, came a slimelike being called "Undine." Unlike her kin, she was perfectly _cool_ with consuming people if they failed a simple test... Or made stupid puns like what was made just now... (Shit, I should probably talk faster while I can...)

From the Heat, came a hothead referred to as "Salamander." She was generally the most popular of the group, as Alipheese had a... different, reputation, Ilias was being depressed in loneliness, and the others were generally either completely, earsplittingly annoying, or awkwardly silent, or being quite unpleasant to be around.

Out of these Six, Ilias and Alipheese were easily the strongest, being capable of directly influencing the evolution and growth of other lifeforms, thus leading to those two becoming known as Goddesses, while the other were simply just very powerful and skilled with their own element, eventually making Sylph and the others known as the "Four Spirits."

In time, the primordial waste began to congeal and coalesce, the Earth and Water forming the lands and seas of various planets, the Heat and Light becoming Suns and Stars, and the Air becoming atmospheres. The Darkness didn't do much other than be the stand-in for when Light was absent in situations.

Ilias would come to eventually lust for company and attention so much, that she would quite literally rip two parts of her own being apart, shaping and forming them into her first two children: Micaela and Lucifina.

However, she quickly realized that maybe ripping herself was a rather shitty idea that only resulted in beings that quite resembled her. Thus, she instead used the Solar Energy and Light from the Sun to form her Third Child: Eden.

Others would follow suit after Eden's formation was a success, but they're not important, so they won't be mentioned. Instead, the most revelant of Ilias' children, Micaela, Lucifina, and Eden, were now among the strongest and usually smartest of Ilias' new creations, which Ilias called "Angels."

Micaela was generally smart, inheriting Ilias' wits and strategy.

Lucifina was a fighter, who gained Ilias' strength and skills.

Eden... Uh... Eden got...

Well... I mean... She must've received...

She... inherited... um...

Eden inherited Ilias' skills in bed? She inherited Ilias' naivety? Or maybe she just gained the right to call herself Ilias' thirdborn child. It had to have been something. Certainly not wits or power like her sisters.

... Moving on, it was noted that Eden was generally bullied quite a bit by her sisters. From being used as a way to build a snowman by piling the snow onto her, teasing and mocking her as being much mentally slower and physically weaker than her sisters, to making her head bleed with a laurel/crown of thorny branches and leaves, the list went on and on. It was safe to say Eden didn't like her sisters that much, but still felt some trust and love for them in the end. Until later on, but that's another story.

Together, with her bumbling cosmic sock-puppets and sycophants-in-the-making, Ilias descended on a primitive planet with some equally primitive life on it. She would attempt to elevate certain beings into sentient beings like herself, and wound up making what came to be known as Proto-Humans on a large continent between two smaller ones. They were rather abominable in nature, varying wildly and often dying from either insanity getting them into self-destructive situations, emotional instability making them fight each other frequently, being infertile, and just being a massive clusterfuck in general. Nevermind the fact they could kick the monsters' asses, they were too busy killing themselves or not having babies to live long enough to savor it, assuming their insanity didn't ruin that as well.

Ilias, like any other sane person would, backtracked quite a lot and suppressed these genetically strong, but stupid, Proto-Humans, practically wiping them all out save for some who wound up in the royal bloodlines of future kings and queens somehow. Historians are still confused on this vague part of history, to say the least.

Regardless, Ilias came to go with a weak-as-shit, but stable, race of beings she came to call humans. She also happened to take on a corporeal form at this point along with Alipheese and the other Elementals, appearing as a beautiful angel. She soon organized and gave intelligence to humanity, enough to make them praise and worship her, and her ego spiraled out of control quite soon after that, leaving humanity to mostly just live in caves and be animals to an extent. This would not last long soon though, for an scientist-wannabe angel known as Promestein attempted to help humans get better at living by granting them the knowledge of fire, but that caused Ilias to freak out and toss Promestein into a cell for however long her temper felt like making the poor scientist wait. Needless to say, Promestein wasn't the same when she got out, nor was she as nice to humans either, but that will come into play much later on.

So, what was Alipheese doing while Ilias was off playing "Follow your Goddess or be Smited~!" with the humans? Mostly doing... strange, things to the local life she found. Like a seaweed. Good god she did some nasty shit. Things that most historians skim over and skip, which, for the sake of sanity itself, I shall do much the same and skip what she actually did to mutate and modify the local life. (Fucking nasty-ass slut...)

For the most part, she kept her early experiments to another continent, far away from Ilias' side of the planet. Alipheese's early creations either resulted in just long-lived or immortal organisms such as the seaweed she modified, or, she was successful, and managed to create three, rather ugly and degenerate creatures. Though this information came in later on in history, it was theorized that Alipheese tried to enhance the various traits she saw in creatures, and wound up creating what would be called the "Proto-Monsters," similar to how Ilias made the "Proto-Humans."

These creatures' evolutionary ability was the one that was emphasized the most in Alipheese's early attempts to modifying life, and as such, they varied wildly, from being simple goblinlike creatures to massive, mountain-sized trolls and giants. However, due to Alipheese not understanding exactly how sentience worked, these Proto-Monsters suffered from a severe case of being rather bestial and dumb. Some were smart, but they generally were either bashed to death, or were trying to assert themselves as the Alpha of their pack of monsters.

Alipheese didn't really care for continuing on with this line of thought, and as such, just headed on over to Ilias' side of the world, and seeing the progress Ilias made with the humans.

Now, Alipheese finally had an idea of what Ilias was doing right, and emulated it, mutating and twisting various animals and even plants into new monsters that, rather than look like horrid little gremlins, looked more like humans with some... well, a lot, of bestial or plantlike traits. She generally called this successful batch of monsters "Mamono." To put it bluntly, the original monsters looked and acted like ugly degenerate beasts. These Mamono looked, and _sometimes_ , acted like civilized beings. There were obviously many exceptions to Mamono being civilized, but Alipheese focused more on what she did right instead of her many, many fuckups, such as not making male mamono for whatever reason. Historians to this day still debate on how intelligent Alipheese Prime actually was at this point, or if she was just a magic moron who bumbled her way into doing something right.

At this point, Alipheese had soon finalized her concepts for the first "Mamono," and created Six Ancestors:

Saja, the clingy Bird-Snake-Dragon thing who likely either became the Second Monster Lord or her child did. Assuming if Saja ever did have a child that is. She's known to be the progenitor of the Lamia, Harpy, and Dragon lines.

Kanon, the Penis Fly Trap... I mean, the Plant Ancestor, who enjoyed dissolving humans. She was known to have planted the seeds for the Plant-type Monsters to grow and rise.

Kanade, the Slimeball who was likely far more calm and at ease than her modern-day counterparts who were going batshit about pollution. She essentially split small parts of herself into the Colony-type Monsters, such as Slimes and Amoebas.

Hiruko, the only Ancestor that appears to have had a chest resembling more of a washing board than actual beach balls like her sisters. She was likely the Eden of the group, considering her strange appearance, many appendages and organs, flat chest, among other aspects. She spilled the Scylla and other aquatic monsters into the seas.

Tamamo-no-Mae, the only Ancestor who managed to stay relevant for the entirety of history without being killed or sealed. She generally made the animalistic races, such as the Kitsunes, Centuars, and others.

... (Must I really talk about this one?... Yes? Ugh, fine...)

Minagi, the Tho-, Ancestor, who so much of a damn slut that one could tell she was the whore of the Ancestors... All of whom were whores in their own right. She had access to the dreamscape, oddly enough, and she was responsible for creating the Succubi race, though it is said that she's likely responsible for creating the Vampires (somehow), the Elves (closet-perverts), among other humanoid monsters who carried a higher resemblance to humans than other monster-types did. Thank Ilias this one was sealed.

So, as far as Alipheese was concerned, these Six were relatively new, nice, and good attempts at sentient beings, so she decided to let them out into the world, do as they pleased.

Probably one of the bigger fuckups on her part, for Ilias quickly noticed the Ancestors running around draining and otherwise destroying entire cities of humans.

Ilias was not happy with this, to say the least, nor did she like the fact that even more mamono were popping up, doing as they pleased and killing or enslaving a huge amount of the human population. The fact that Alipheese seemed to be a better creator, and was starting to be considered a better god even by humans did not help soothe Ilias' temper.

As such, Ilias declared war. Alipheese soon declared war in turn, and soon, the Great Monster Wars would begin...

The Great War lasted for many decades, with the overwhelming numbers and power of the monsters being nullified by the higher competence of Micaela and the fear of the Daystar, Lucifina. At some points, Eden and Hiruko would clash, causing catastrophic damage to the lands in their true, hideous forms.

Though a majority of the monster forces were primarily Beelzebubs, Alipheese had at some point decided to side with the Pabilsags in a civil war between them and the Beelzebubs. Sealing the Beelzebub race into the calamity box, and sinking their island, Alipheese had accidentally screwed over a rather large portion of her forces, thus leading historians to have further evidence of her increasingly obvious stupidity and inability to foresee what might happen in the future. After the Great Monster Wars, the Pabilsags would move on to eventually generate the Insect-type monsters, with the Arachnes somehow being lopped into the classification as well despite insects and arachnids being two different types of arthropods.

It was noted at this time, a powerful bloodline of monsters known as the "Nereneids" would fight in the wars, but were narrowed down to a single family line after it all ended. Due to their close ties with Alipheese, it was assumed they'd take on the throne of Monster Lord when she and the Ancestors were gone, but for some reason, Alipheese chose to have the "Fateburn" family line become the Monster Lords instead. Whether it was because she forgot about the Nereneids, believed them to all be dead, or just simply wanted someone else to be ruler, the result was the same: The Fateburns and Nereneids would be bitter rivals for a long time to come...

Meanwhile, in Ilias' side of things, the military and religious center for humans known as San Ilia was rapidly ramping up its forces and shelters in an attempt to save humans from both Angel and Monsters alike, and had by chance sent a large military force overseas, in an attempt to find a new continent to colonize and persevere in case Alipheese won over Ilias. They were forgotten, save for a few records, but they didn't die out, and they did find another continent...

Time passed, and despite Alipheese's massive lack of military competency or control over her creations, she and the Ancestors were slowly driving Ilias and the Angels back, threatening to destroy them once and for all.

Instead of surrendering or thinking up a better strategy, Ilias instead rage-quitted and used the explosive reactions Light and Darkness usually had when thrown at each other to cause an M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction) situation, being perfectly fine with the idea of obliterating everything instead of letting Alipheese take it all.

Alipheese, not really having anything to counter or stop Ilias from collectively screwing the entire planet over, had decided to simply surrender instead of attempting to negotiate a treaty or armistice. Though, this time, Historians can agree that at this point, trying to reason with Ilias was like trying to talk a bomb into not going off.

Ilias presumably asked Alipheese to kill herself, but that probably didn't work, so she asked instead for Alipheese and the Ancestors to seal themselves away. Permanently.

Alipheese, desperate to not get everyone killed by a certain psychotic goddess, decided to go through with the sealing, though she did place in a counter-balance that would set her and the Ancestors free if Ilias killed too many monsters. It was probably a terrible idea on Alipheese's part to somehow tell Ilias about this, because Ilias inevitably spent the next thousand years or so brainwashing humanity to hate monsters and worship her, screw over the Monster Lords, and find ways to get around Alipheese's counter-balance. It was also noted that Tamamo-no-Mae had also avoided being completely sealed, and was mostly monitoring the Monster Lords that succeeded the first from behind the scenes.

Not much really happened for the next 500 years or so, until a certain Monster Lord known as Alipheese Fateburn the Eighth, or better as "Black Alice," attempted to take over the world. A Legendary Hero named Heinrich came to arise, and with the help of the Four Spirits, defeated her, though perhaps she wasn't quite as dead as history tells it to be...

About 470-480 years passed after that...

Over on the other side of the planet, the military force once sent by San Ilia to colonize a new continent had changed drastically. They had encountered the proto-monsters created by Alipheese, and seeing them as horrific insults to even the mamono, attempted to purge them. The wars between these humans and proto-monsters stretched on for many years, and a strong lack of Ilias, the emphasis on battle and warring, and constant strife changed this colony.

Over the centuries of having no contact with their Goddess, the people began to forget about her and turned to idolatry instead...

It started with Ilias worship, obviously. The first colonists praised and fought in her name daily, praying for her guidance.

Time went on, and soon, great war heroes came to rise and achieve magnificent deeds in battle, leading to the people believing they were blessed and guided by Ilias herself.

It kept on going, until various towns and centers of Ilias worship fell into ruin because of either civil wars, monster attacks, or plagues and disease. After these events, Ilias' influence began to falter and fade, due to Ilias herself not being aware of these people and ready to remind them constantly of her existence. With that, heroes once believed to merely be the heralds and champions of the Goddess were beginning to be praised and worshiped as actual gods themselves, that with their honorable and valorous achievements in battle, they ascended to godhood.

Of course, they were hardly divine, just simply being normal humans with an unbelievable amount of physical might and power. They could be killed just like any other man, but it would certainly be difficult to pull off. It was ill-advised to bring this up directly in their faces or near their fanatics and idolizers though.

Because of how war heroes were apotheosised into idols and gods, their military roots, and of course their fanatical devotion to purging their new continent of all monsters, this colony came to glorify and love war and conquest, believing that it was what all life strived for. After all, when their lives, their father and mother's lives, their grandparents' lives, all the way up to their founders' lives have been nothing but constant fighting, attempts to survive the impossible, and achieving glory and fame through doing such things, it was only natural they'd come to be centered around survival of the fittest and war.

It took almost 970 years, but, at last, this colony had expanded and conquered so much of the continent to the point where only a small sliver of the land was unclaimed and populated by the most powerful of proto-monsters. By this point, the colony was no longer a colony of San Ilia, or anything even vaguely resembling the original soldiers who worshiped Ilias. They had come to be known as the Legion, and were no doubt heretics and barbarians in the eyes of Ilias or her priests. In time, their greatest warrior would go down into the depths of this monster land, and challenge their strongest beasts... And when he would come back, he would focus the Legion's gaze to other lands, to continue on the war, to ensure the glories of battle never faded or died.

Though, for now, the Legion would remain to their sole continent for now. Right now, the Mamono and Humans of the three continents on the other side of the planet had their own problems... The most notable of which was the election for the fifteenth Monster Lord...

The Fateburns had kept the crown of Monster Lord for the longest time, and despite having Black Alice die with no heirs, they still continued on with the Eighth's sister, Alice the Ninth. Quite understandably, not many monsters desired to fight the Fateburns at this point, thinking it to be a futile attempt at the crown.

Except for one. A descendant of the Nereneid bloodline, Cassandra. Determined to claim the crown at long last, Cassandra was the only monster to actually dare challenge Alice XV for the crown when the time came...

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A young woman with pale skin and light blue eyes looked around, the blood-red flesh covering most of her body like a dress of sorts bubbling with excitement. She notably had absurdly long blonde hair with heavy tints of green, tied into a massive ponytail to her right. Though she was sure that her opponent would not be an easy one, this was her bloodline's time, it was her time, her time to be the Monster Lord at long last.

This was Cassandra Nereneid, a powerful monster and the sole contestant who dared to challenge Alice XV for the throne. She wasn't sure what she'd exactly do as Monster Lord, but that would come later. She was sure there was plenty of information that would be revealed and shown to the new Monster Lord, and if not, then she'd just deal with the violent human nations in Sentora or find a way to lessen Ilias' influence. It'd be something she'd figure out after becoming Monster Lord.

In time, she saw her rival, Alice the Fifteenth. She was slightly older than Cassandra, but was far bigger, being a purple-skinned lamia with a massive red-scaled tail. There were a few small wings coming out at a few places, and she wore rather... skimpy, clothing. Fancy and elegant, but skimpy and revealing nonetheless.

 _Heh... I can injure her much more easily if she's just going to show it all off,_ Cassandra smugly thought to herself, knowing her flesh would help take and soften Alice's spells and attacks.

Both contestants made eye-contact soon, both unable to read the other's expression... Alice soon broke off, noting that Tamamo had something to say to her.

Cassandra just smiled to herself, giddy and ready to fight. She had trained so long for this fight... She knew she could take Alice down.

Eventually her scylla maid, Ran, leaned in and whispered to her, "Careful, Lady Cassandra. Just as you would fight underhandedly, I am certain Alice XV would do much the same. The Fateburns won't give up their crown and title so easily..."

"Of course Ran, of course. I can take whatever Alice throws at me and do it even better," Cassandra said, almost thinking about counting the seconds that passed until the fight finally started.

"I know Milady. It is simply my duty to ensure that you win and survive no matter what..." Ran politely said, "Perhaps some tea will ease your nerves and tension?"

"No. I need this adrenaline for the match... I can't be feeling or going easy now of all times," Cassandra responded, "I will win the crown! I won't let her triumph..."

The Maid simply nodded and backed away, letting her mistress meditate and think deeply before the duel began.

Time passed, and inevitably, the tournament began, the two contestants walking into the arena and staring each other down.

At a stand above the arena, Tamamo stood with several other monster nobles, "Today is the day the Fifteenth Monster Lord is crowned... Only two would stand to take the throne. The defender and rightful inheritor to the Crown, Alipheese Fateburn the Fifteenth, and Cassandra Nereneid, Lord of Lady's Village. You two will fight here today, and the winner shall take the crown. Do you two agree to this?"

"I do," Alice simply said with no emotion.

"Of course!" Cassandra said eagerly, ready to begin.

"I see... Then let the duel for the throne begin!" Tamamo commanded, officially beginning the match.

Both fighters immediately rushed each other, locking into a struggle. Cassandra seemed rather confident and self-assured, while Alice simply kept on her blank look.

Neither side got over the other in that struggle, but Cassandra's flesh began to crawl over her arms, quickly wrapping around Alice's arms and constricting them, oozing with corrosive and acidic substances.

Alice jerked back, trying to rip and tear the flesh off to prevent her arms from being crippled this early on, while Cassandra giggled, the bottom of her dress expanding and flooding the floor of the sandy arena with her toxic and deadly flesh. Alarmed, Alice's tail wings began to flap, and with the help of some magic, Alice took to the airs, staying well away from the walls and floors.

Cassandra simply raised her pointer finger at Alice, some of her flesh suddenly tearing off and being telekinetically hurled into the air at Alice to weigh her down and melt her wings. Alice flew around, weaving and dodging gracefully despite her large size and long tail, silently concentrating her magic and power into her fist...

The Amoeba remained none the wiser to this however, simply laughing at the Lamia as she hummed her own little symphony, treating this as more of a concert rather than an actual duel.

"Lady Cassandra... take Alice down while you can..." Ran muttered worriedly from the sidelines, concerned that Cassandra was perhaps being far more arrogant than she should be right now while Tamamo looked on proudly at Alice's performance so far.

Cassandra didn't appear to hear Ran's quiet attempts to advise her, as she carried on fighting playfully, "Come on, Alipheese! Show me the so-called power of the Fateburns! Show me why your line deserves to be Monster Lord instead of mine!" she cackled, beginning to throw magic spells at Alice, from fireballs, to icicle shards, to lightning bolts.

Alice didn't bother answering, continuing on with her graceful movements and swerving in the skies to avoid the acids shot out at her, and to avoid the flesh being thrown at her and the spells. Needless to say, this irritated Cassandra quite a bit, and led to her using more magical power to make her attacks home in on Alice.

Soon, several spells did manage to hit their mark, throwing Alice off-balance and causing her to be forced into the flesh-covered ground by Cassandra's other projectiles.

Instantly, Alice was covered with Cassandra's flesh, the bulge convulsing and thrashing around wildly. Cassandra grunted and frowned, using all of her will to try and keep Alice trapped in her flesh, hoping that she'd fall, whether it be due to suffocating, being burnt and digested too much to fight, or having her energy drained from breaking free, she didn't really care.

Ran gleamed and cheered Cassandra on, while it was Tamamo's turn to be concerned and worried about Alice's victory chances.

Time kept on going, and gradually the thrashing got weaker and slower, until finally, it appeared to be over.

Cassandra giggled, and then burst out laughing with Ran cheering and praising her, "Ha! You see that!? That's what you get, Fateburn! All of these centuries of the Nereneids being shoved aside... It ends now! I will be Monster Lord at long last!"

Tamamo sighed, feeling a massive amount of pressure and guilt now at not properly training Alice XV as she should have, when she noted that Alice XV still appeared to be quite conscious and active inside Cassandra's flesh... In fact, since Cassandra was assured of her victory now, the flesh had loosened up and relaxed...

So, it wasn't as shocking to Tamamo as it was to Cassandra and Ran when Alice XV ruptured and tore out of Cassandra's flesh, making a beeline right at the Amoeba with a worryingly powerful amount of energy stored and focused in her fist.

Panicked, shocked, and unprepared all at once, Cassandra vainly tried to raise her guard, but Alice went right around it, and cleanly punched Cassandra in the face, all of the lamia's might and power focused into that single strike.

Immediately the Nereneid was torn from her center of flesh and sent flying into the wall as, crashing through it as the disembodied flesh covering the floors and walls wilted and died, rendering them harmless, if still a bit slimy and squishy.

Alice, despite being badly wounded and even partially melted in some parts of her body, kept on going, slithering quickly to Cassandra's location and yanking the amoeba up by her long hair, and throwing her again.

Cassandra shrieked, not only because she was sent flying into the air again after being badly wounded by the darkness-enhanced punch Alice hit her with, but because Alice didn't let go of her pony-tail, leading to her hair being drastically shortened... It was more on the lines of her hair now being around neck-length, rather than knee-length.

"Y-you bitch! I'll make you go through every single agonizing and humiliating way of torture!" Cassandra shouted, blinded by pure anger at this point and blindly casting her strongest spells at Alice.

Due to Cassandra's tantrum however, Alice found it quite easy to slither inbetween and around the spells' impact locations and ultimately, Alice wrapped around Cassandra's body despite its slippery and slimy flesh, tightly constricting her.

All Alice had to do was simply grab on top of Cassandra's head with one hand, and hold the bottom of her chin with the other to instantly silence her.

"... It's over, Nereneid. I win via neck snap. Even you can't survive an injury like that," Alice coldly said, speaking for once since the start of the duel.

"N-No... no..." Cassandra trailed off, almost tearing up as the spectators cheered and the winner of the match was finally declared by Tamamo:

"Alipheese Fateburn the Fifteenth wins! Cassandra Nereneid loses! The New Monster Lord has been selected!"

Sighing, Alipheese loosened up around Cassandra, "I'm going now. I have things to attend to that my mother left on my hands," with that said, Alipheese turned her back on Cassandra, and slithered off to recover and attend to her new duties and enjoy her new powers and control as the Monster Lord, Tamamo running off after her to inform her of her duties and certain other topics and secrets.

Ran soon walked up behind Cassandra, "I-I'm sorry, Milady..."

Cassandra simply sniffled and teared up, before running away, crying about failing when she had victory right within her grasp, about how the Fateburns won once again, and about her wounds and training were all for nothing.

Ran sighed, walking off after her mistress. Perhaps some tea and a warm meal around a fireplace in Lady's Village would help her...

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The Insect Queen, Charlotte, calmly resided in her cave, idly pondering on what to do. Should she focus on human domestication, or should she continue on with her focus on the various insect kingdoms? So many questions to answer...

She was an arachne, one who happened to be descended from a youkai line in Yamatai. She wore a black and silky white kimono, with a white bow tied onto her corset with a golden flower. On her large abdomen, she had ornate clothes showing golden-yellow clouds and intricate spider webs. Unlike most of her kind, she also wrapped large white clothes with yellow and black pattern onto her eight legs as well, tying them together with red strings. Her long purple hair was tied up into a flowing ponytail, with some golden jewelry that kept it together.

"Such a pity... Everything seems to be so boring nowadays. I do wonder who will become the new Monster Lord though," she quietly mused, drawing her katana and gazing into it. Maybe she'd be harsher on the insect kingdoms today... But how? Raise Taxes? Too petty, and she didn't have much taste for wealth either. Executions? She liked her subjects to be around, and if she wanted to kill someone, she'd just do it herself. Or maybe she'd instate a new law... No, that wasn't good, plus the new Monster Lord might get onto her for any stupid or irrational decisions.

"Hmph. I suppose I'll either continue on attempting to domesticate humans as cattle if Cassandra wins, or if she loses and Alice wins, I'll just remain quiet and only enslave the ones I keep for myself... Or maybe not. I'll find out when that time comes," she said, sheathing it as a knock echoed nearby her part of the cave, "Come in."

Soon entered the Queen Ant, Antine-Ann, the Spider Queen, and the Queen Bee, Miria.

The Queen Ant's torso and head were a light-brown in color, while her four arms, legs, abdomen, and mandibles were a silvery-black. She wore no clothes, though on her platinum hair, she did don a bronze crown. Her emerald eyes instantly told the Insect Queen that they were here for reasons that most certainly did not benefit her.

The Spider Queen was generally soft-spoken and quiet in these past few years. Charlotte had plenty of reason to think she'd die within the next decade or so. She was an albino tarantula, with white fuzzy hairs and soft red eyes. She dressed in elegant, refined clothing with blue and red accents, and she didn't wear much jewelry. The Insect Queen was on rather good terms with her, so she could safely assume the news wasn't going to involve a violent outbreak or coup.

The Queen Bee also wore no clothing at all, her torso and head were a light tan, and her four arms, legs, and mandibles were a grayish-black. There were occasional places where white fuzz was in, primarily on her hips, shoulders, wrists, and ankles. She had two pairs of light-green wings, and her abdomen was striped with yellow and black colors. Much like Antine-Ann, Miria had an orange-gold crown on her light-yellow hair. Her jade eyes automatically told the Insect Queen that this news involved her on a massive scale if it included someone as unimportant as her.

"Antine-Ann, Rosa, Miria. I assume you three are here for a reason?" Charlotte asked, turning to face them.

"It's simple, Charlotte. On orders of the Monster Lord, Alipheese Fateburn XV, you are no longer Insect Queen," Antine-Ann said triumphantly, "Due to your cruelty, harsh treatment, and the way you've killed humans, the Monster Lord has, with me and Queen Bee's urging, stripped you of your titles and political power."

"... What? Are you joking?" Charlotte deadpanned, not taking it seriously.

"I'm afraid it is, Charlotte..." the Spider Queen murmured softly, taking out an official order with Alice's emblem of approval.

"No... This has to be a joke!" Charlotte shouted, taking up the parchment swiftly and skimming over it, paling as she saw the truth of the matter.

"No more of your harsh reign, _former_ Insect Queen," Miria declared, her tone practically denouncing the former queen.

"And, before you lose your temper... Think, for a moment. You're outnumbered, your political authority is gone, and you'd be defying the new Monster Lord by refusing to stand down and attacking us. Try to consider what might happen if you draw that katana of yours," Antine-Ann warned, staring the arachne down.

"Damn you... Damn you three to hell!" Charlotte shouted, "I will become the Insect Queen again! Don't think you can just silence and banish me!" In a furious anger, the former queen shoved past the three Queens and out of her former domain, to where, none of them knew.

"... Finally, now I can concern myself with Grangold's attempts at expansion and wars..." Antine-Ann sighed, surprised and shocked her threat got through to Charlotte.

"Indeed... Tensions are rising between my bees and hornets, and the plants of Queen Alraune in Plansect Village. Charlotte's reign was not helping us in that regard," Miria said, idly stretching her wings and limbs.

"And I... I can't take this stress anymore... I'm in my twilight years, I know I'll die soon, but I've finally reeled in the violence of the Arachne Clan, and yet I can't keep up with younger ones like Charlotte riling them all up again. I wish I could help her, but there's only so much I can do..." Rosa quietly said.

"We gave her a chance, and she didn't take it. What she does now no longer concerns us, not when she's been weakened so much... So let's focus on our own problems. Farewell, Rosa, Miria," Antine-Ann said, going off to take her leave to her cave systems.

"Safe travels, you two!" Rosa said, waving to them as she soon teleported away.

"Goodbye! I am certain all will be well soon, for all of us!" Miria smiled, flying away off to Plansect Village.

* * *

 _ **...**_

Meanwhile, far off in the continent where the Legion was warring against the Monsters...

By this point, the centuries long war between the Human Legions and Monsters were drawing to a close. The monsters had been all either purged or driven into hiding in a tiny sliver of land on the continent, and soon, it was inevitable that the legions would come in for a final, glorious battle.

One particular warrior, Octavius, had his own goals however... equipping his strongest armor and taking his mace and sword, the Legionnaire went out on his own, adventuring deep into the territory of the monsters...

He easily fought his way past most of the monsters. Whether they were small gremlins, brutish orcs, or gigantic, shapeshifting trolls, they all fell the same to his might. He walked on, unmatched by the colossal golems, the hordes of brutish and savage orcs and goblins, the mighty and ancient dragons, and the many other abominations and magical freaks that infested the caves. The halls and corridors of the cave were soaked in blood and entrails, Octavius' footsteps echoing throughout the silent hellhole...

He went deeper and deeper, noticing it only got darker and narrower, forcing him to crawl through narrow and small cracks and holes at certain points. It got eerily silent. Any ordinary man or woman would turn around and flee back to the safety of their camps by this point...

But, there is no honor or valor in running away, and thus, Octavius moved on, digging himself out of the narrow and claustrophobic cracks and crevices into a grand open space... Light was shining down from a gaping hole in the ceiling, bathing the place in warmth, and allowing the natural crystals to shine and glisten in all their beauty as vines and trees grew all around. Towards one particular edge of the space were three thrones, carved crudely out of marble.

There, upon those three thrones, sat three immense and intimidating beasts.

The Monster on the left was a strange creature, with his forearms being extremely massive and his torso being flabby and covered in mold and fungi. His neck was so thick and short that it almost appeared that his head was connected directly to his torso, and his legs were stubby and short. He wore a simple loincloth, which appeared to be made from the skins of animals, humans, and other monsters. He wielded a thick dragon bone, sharpened at the ends with crude clothes wrapped around one end as a grip of sorts. His mouth was abnormally wide, and his snout was long and hooked. He gazed with his moon-like eyes at Octavius hungrily, frothing at the mouth for another meal. Octavius recognized this monster to be Grendal, one of the strongest and long-lived monsters... which meaned that the ones beside him must've been his brothers...

The Demon on the right was a barbaric creature that strongly resembled a gorilla... Its arms were scarred and bulging, as were its legs, and unlike Grendal, this giant's torso was thick with muscles instead of fat and lard. It covered itself with furs and bones like a coat of sorts, with the teeth, skulls, and other parts dangling down from its necklace. On its head it wore the skull of a dragon, grinning stupidly inside the dragon's jaws with its uneven, blunt fangs. It carried a tree trunk, with a sharpened piece of a strange metal at the end. Octavius knew this to be Jotun, a powerful giant who had once devastated the land and legion to the north. So this was where the mythical being lurked...

The final Devil in the middle was an imposing titan. He too, was muscular like his brother Jotun, but he wore no furs or bones, just a long cloth wrapped around his waist. He looked quite human truthfully, but his skin was greyish-blue, and it appeared that a small veil of ice covered his body. His bushy beard was like a gigantic tree, curling and growing down to his knees, wrapping around and covering his shoulders and chest at times. Two mighty horns twisted from his forehead, red at the tips and reeking of decay and frost. He wielded a mighty hammer, made of eternal, unmelting ice, the hilt shining like silver, engraving and carvings of mighty battles and warriors decorating it. Octavius only had to take a small glimpse to know it as Ymir, the strongest monster.

Ymir scoffed slightly at the presence of the Legionnaire, rising from his throne, _**"Come, brothers. The fool has challenged all of us..."**_

Jotun and Grendal sneered and rised out of their thrones as well, drawing their weapons...

Octavius steeled himself, drawing his mace and sword, and charging at the three giants, bashing his mace at Grendal first, only to find out the giant's fat and loose flesh took in the blows without it even feeling that it happened.

Grendal shouted in a childish outrage, blocking Octavius' blows with his dragon bone, before grabbing and smashing the human into the ground. Jotun and Ymir soon joined in, attempting to crush and stomp on the human, but couldn't tell where he was at due to the dust clouds that puffed up when he was bashed into the earth.

They soon found out where he was at though, for Grendal soon felt a piercing blade stab through his sides. Shrieking out in pain, Grendal jumped and twirled about awkwardly, trying to throw the human stabbing him off while Jotun and Ymir waited for a chance to safely strike the pest without harming their brother.

In time, Octavius grabbed onto a different part of Grendal, and jerked his sword out, attempting to scale and climb the giant while it tossed and threw itself against the floors and walls, sometimes crushing Octavius, but due to a mix of luck, armor, and Grendal just not realizing to try and suffocate or grind Octavius into a bloody pile of gore, Octavius survived most of it. He did not like being smothered between a hard surface and the fat giant however, and it only served to enrage him further, fueling him to move faster and swing his blade wildly at Grendal's back, hacking and slashing parts of its flesh off.

Jotun snarled, furious and rushing at Grendal to try and take care of Octavius itself by impaling the human on its spear, but in part to Octavius seeing this and grabbing onto Grendal's ears to steer the giant off, and Grendal's own panicking, Jotun wound up impaling Grendal cleanly through the gut.

Grendal, despite its wounds, was still quite active and angry, roughly smacking Jotun across the face and throwing his brother into the wall for his troubles before he continued attempting to catch Octavius who still continued to elude and evade his grasp.

Octavius dropped down onto the floor after sometime, having thought up a plan to fully bring Jotun's spear right through Grendal and cripple the giant, and circled around behind Grendal to cut at the back of his knees, which admittedly were hard to find when the giant's legs were already so stumpy. But, when he finally did cut the right spot after many tries and dodges, Grendal fell right onto his gut, which consequently caused the spear to erupt from his back in a bloody fountain.

Growling and frothing at the mouth, Grendal futility attempted to get up while Octavius quickly leaped up to the front of the fallen creature's face. Without hesitation, the legionnaire ran his sword through Grendal's head, and ended the ancient monster once and for all.

Ymir's eyes widened in brief shock, before he resumed his stoic glare. Jotun appeared to be finally recovering as well, and rose to see his brother slain. Ymir simply glanced an expression of apathy to Jotun, practically telling the giant to go all for it, and Jotun immediately barreled at Octavius, consumed by not a desire to avenge a fallen loved one like a human or mamono might, but instead by a petty rage, seeing the death of his brother as a mere dishonor or mockery instead of anything personal.

Jotun screeched and beat his chest, hooting and gibbering wildly as he carelessly ripped his spear from Grendal's corpse to fight Octavius.

Octavius went onto the defensive once more, moving and weaving around and below Jotun's mindless swings and frequent stabs, before moving in closer to slash and ram into Jotun's thick coat of furs and bones before jumping back again. He could see that, unlike his brothers, Jotun actually had some form of armor in the countless thick furs, skins, and bones he wrapped himself up in, and as such, he had to slowly hack and cut away his layers of protection before going in to end the Giant. He could also note the jaws and teeth of Jotun's dragon skull was still sharp... just make it a bit slippery, and stomp on the skull, and two of the giants would be slain.

In time, most of Jotun's "armor" was torn or sliced off, decorating the floor of the throne room along with Grendal's blood. Further consumed by fury for the loss of his "trophies" and "prizes," Jotun stampeded at Octavius, charging at him like calvary. However, Octavius was now ready to begin taking his enemy down, and leaped back right as Jotun attempted to impale him, causing the giant's spear to embed itself into the ground. The Legionnaire quickly took the chance to run on the spear's length, leaping from it onto Jotun's helmet, and sliding down to make a large incision on Jotun's neck, making the giant shout and attempt to slap the back of his neck to squash Octavius.

Octavius moved out of the way, and let the blood flow from Jotun's wound, soon soaking his sword and mace in it. From there, he simply rubbed his weapons against the jaws of Jotun's dragon skull, and noted that the skull slowly slid, until it was like a bear-trap ready to spring on Jotun's head. Of course, the giant took no heed of it, too blinded by fury and anger to think clearly, and just kept on trying to jerk his spear out of the earth.

From there, Octavius positioned himself against the top of the skull, and shoved himself against it with all his power and weight, his own physical strength and the thick layers of armor weighing on him being enough to at least partially snap the dragon skull's jaws shut onto Jotun's head, making the giant twitch and spasm for a few moments, before it too, joined Grendal in death.

Ymir was certainly surprised with Octavius' tenacity, and chuckled deeply, _**"You are a worthy opponent, disposing of my brutish brothers so easily... Come! I have waited millennia for a true opponent to arise from your 'Legion,' and give me the honorable fight I've desired for so long, Human!"**_

Octavius silently nodded, focusing on defense again as Ymir was quickly upon him, smashing the ground and causing chunks and shards of crystals and stone to scatter around like shrapnel.

Ymir seemed to have no conventional weaknesses that could be taken advantage of like his brothers, so Octavius slashed and hacked away whenever he could, shattering the thin veil of ice that covered the giant, and though he could not easily harm or hurt Ymir like Grendal and Jotun, Octavius still managed to draw blood. Ymir appeared to be relishing the fight, as was Octavius, and soon the throne room around the two were soon overtaken by a blizzard caused from the magical ice on Ymir's hammer. It was a long and grueling fight, with neither gaining ground over the other...

It almost seemed as if entire days had passed during their duel, with Octavius slowly but surely cutting and crippling Ymir down, while Octavius' speed and armor saved him from any true, long-lasting harm from Ymir's hammer.

In time, at long last, Octavius finally got in close enough and stabbed Ymir right in the heart, causing the giant to stumble around, before falling back into his throne...

 _ **"... Good... job... Human..."**_ Ymir hoarsely praised, before his eyes rolled up, and he breathed no more.

"... You fought honorably and valorously, Ymir," Octavius spoke quietly, sheathing his weapons and lifting up Ymir's hammer, taking it as a trophy, and to prove what he had accomplished on this day to the Legion. What little remaining monsters were in the caverns of the mountains fled before him, knowing they stood no chance against the one who killed all three of their mightiest champions.

* * *

 _ **...**_

Octavius soon arrived to the capital of the Legion, and brought Ymir's hammer forth in the plaza, dropping it before the crowds of people.

"Ymir, Jotun, and Grendal are dead. I killed them myself."

Between those words, the blood on Octavius' armor, the time he had been gone for, the lack of monster attacks recently, and the obvious warhammer right there in front of them, people could not bring themselves to question the idea that Octavius had indeed, defeated their ancient enemies at long last and scattered their rivals across what little territory they had left, making it pathetically easy to exterminate them all for good.

"Such an achievement is unheard of... Killing not one, but _three_ legendary monsters?... Not even our greatest gods and idols have done such a thing..." one civilian murmured.

"And in the depths of the last, and most dangerous, territory of the monsters at that, all alone..." a soldier remarked, jealous yet proud of Octavius for his achievement.

"He should be our highest God... he obviously must know quite a lot, and his skill, power, and valor is unheard of, even compared to the deities and war heroes early on..." another mused.

"He must be a god!" another said, "How else could he pull off such a feat? He must be a living god, right here in the flesh, just like the other deities! But he is undoubtedly stronger and superior to all of them!"

"Yes! That must explain it! He is a god, he is _the_ God! And as such, he must be one to preside over all other deities!"

And, before Octavius could even have his own say in the matter, he was apotheosised into a God.

"Tell us, o Great God! What is your name?..."

"My name?..." Octavius said quietly, not really used to talking since he was just an experienced legionnaire in the army, "I am Octavius Zenith, Slayer of Grendal, Jotun, and Ymir."

"Then hail to you, Lord Zenith! May you achieve even greater deeds and valor in battle!"

 _That's the problem though... There is nothing left to conquer on this land... Granted, there are sea monsters, but they're more of sport if anything. I'm apparently the Lord of the Legion now, and it's all for nothing, because I don't have anyone to war against..._ Octavius thought, _... Unless... There might be other lands out there, with other people... Yes... I can build a navy, and sail to other lands for conquest to continue our eternal war..._

"Very well then," Lord Zenith cleared his throat, getting the attention of his people, "If I truly am your Lord and Chief God now, then you will begin building a mighty navy, for the simple purpose of not only waging marine battles, but to transport our armies across the seas, to land on the shores of another continent and fight against them in the absence of our monster rivals. Am I understood?"

"Of course, Lord Zenith! It shall be done!" some of the constructors and engineers among the crowd immediately left, off to build a fleet to find and invade a new land...

 _I did not expect to reap such an excellent award like this for slaying those three... But it is not unwelcome. Now, to make plans and find a way to keep the Legion busy until we have a new punching bag..._

* * *

Author's Notes:

So, this is now a thing. Since I am currently scaling the massive wall that is Writer's Block or simply aren't interested in writing at the moment on my other stories, I decided to go ahead and make this. Let me know what you all think about this. Is it shit? Is it edgy? Is it ridiculously OP? Is it strange that Alipheese the First made the "Proto-Monsters," just as Ilias made the "Proto-Humans?" Is Cassandra still an asshole? Is my interpretation of the Old Spider Queen too off or strange? I don't know, but I certainly want to know what you think about it all!

Oh, and some notes:

Q. Is Shadow of Undeath/King of the Goblins dead?

A. No, it isn't. Just stumped on what to do is all. As I always am.

Q. Is Dalek of Zero dead?

A. I admit, it does look dead, and it might be in a hiatus for god knows how long to come. One day, when I'm re-interested in the FoZ series, I might pick back up on it again.

Q. Is this VN MGQ or MGQ Paradox?

A. I'll stick mostly to the original trilogy for now, though I may (in other words, most definitely,) use Paradox to fill in some gaps and spaces, such as what Cassandra looked like when she was younger. Some things however, such as the original Spider Queen (who was only mentioned to have died without a heir or successor, leading to the Spider Princess we know now,) and Spider Princess' name (which for some reason wasn't given out by Paradox 2, unlike Vampire Queen Fatima, Queen Ant Antine-Ann, Queen Bee Miria, etc.) are entirely my thoughts and fill-ins.

Q. Will there be lemons/gore?

A. To be honest, I probably won't write any of those scenes. Suggestive/Flirty/Lewd tones might be in, but outright sex or detailed torture will likely not be seen. Trying to get me to it won't help either. Besides, I'm an awful lemon writer, and gore is probably the reason why nobody reviews or comments about Shadow of Undeath nowadays.

Q. Does this whole thing imply you'll actually answer/respond to reviews now?

A. Yes it does. I'd like to try and establish a closer relationship with my readers this time around, and I'll apply this to Shadow of Undeath as well when I pick back up on it. It's already a thing I do in King of the Goblins, and it seems to work pretty well.

So, without further ado, I bid you all a good day!


	2. Setting Sail

_**...**_

Many years had passed since his apotheosis, and Lord Zenith was finding that he generally fitted in quite well with his "job" as Lord of the Legion. He didn't have to deal with usurpers nearly as often as he thought due to his "godhood" and the people revering and loving him so much that they never questioned his decisions. He was almost worried that at this rate, his ego would spiral far, far out of control... But, as long as he kept fighting in wars and being reminded of his true nature as a mere human, he should be okay.

Though he had absolutely no competence at all with any political, business, cultural, or legal topics, he found a rather easy way around it. He simply just found people who were good at the stuff and liked it, and made them in charge of what he couldn't do, while showing them both the stick and carrot while introducing them to the career, that way he'd have more time to learn about these things and people would think he's making some sort of revolutionary makeover to the government. Was there going to be corruption in his bare-bones attempt at spreading the massive workload evenly to others who were better at the stuff than him? He was absolutely sure of it, but as long as he heard no rumors or conspiracies, or anything related to the collapse of the Legion, then it'll probably be fine.

Meanwhile, he was currently deep inside a library, going into deep historical records after commanding a palace and a navy built. He was certain that there must be other lands out there, that there couldn't just be this one continent...

 _There can't just be endless oceans all around our land, there has to be some other landmass... I hope..._ Lord Zenith thought optimistically, flipping page after page, scroll after scroll, looking over the tales and histories of humanity on this landmass...

He found his searches to mostly turn up with various heroes and their achievements in war, or genius commanders and their strategies and discoveries.

 _Perhaps I should reorganize the library sometime..._ he simply thought in exasperation as he tossed war stories and books into one pile, and set aside the few science and ideal-based books to another pile much smaller than the first.

In time, he finally found his mark.

 _Aha! A book on the foundings of the first human settlement! Of course!_ he eagerly flipped right through the book, quickly skimming over it, noting that humans back then were far more different than the humans of the Legion. For starters, they appeared to be far weaker, being usually unable to even fight off an imp or wear basic armor without being tired out. They also appeared to be much more weak-minded and cowardly, often running away when their territory was invaded and not being aggressive with expansion.

Then, what shocked him the most was the accusation that the ancestors of the Legion didn't worship their legendary heroes who had proven themselves in battle... They worshiped some sort of winged being! According to the artist's recreation of the tablet he saw in the town's ruins, it appeared to be some sort of Goddess, with a dress and circlet of sorts. She looked human, but had two giant wings coming out of her back, like a bird or a chicken from what Zenith could tell.

 _How weird... Were humans back then really so bizarre? Who'd worship a chicken-winged human who doesn't look like she'd fight side-by-side with her worshipers?_ Zenith thought in confusion, flipping on to hear the author of the book's final theories that, due to where the settlement was located at, it doesn't look like humans came to exist on this land, instead seeming as if they sailed overseas to settle where they founded the first city.

Closing off the strange, yet informative book, Zenith closed his eyes and thought deeply.

 _Hm... If I were to send the Navy off from that city, could they accidentally stumble across that supposed "origin land" this author proposed? And if they do find that it exists, will there be any humans or monsters there? If not, there might be backlash... Ah, such a pity that I can't determine if this author is just crazy or went super-deep into his research..._ Zenith sighed, getting up from his seat and walking to the front desk of the library, where he simply said, "The big pile is the pile relating to war stories and myths. I organized them chronologically. The other, smaller pile is just the ones dealing with other topics. I'd like them separated from now on for easy access."

The Librarian nodded eagerly, and dashed off, running to organize them just as he said.

 _Everyone takes my orders so vigorously... I'm a little worried._ Zenith soon shrugged it off, going on with his day. Perhaps to distract the people until the Navy was built for exploration, he'd host some sports games or mock-battles, like a tournament. _What should I call it though? The Viklympics? No... The Romynics? That sounds weird... The Sparticus? That honestly sounds like a name if anything... Olympics? Maybe..._

The Lord of the Legion kept muttering to himself, walking along and just wondering what to do to keep his nation from killing itself out of boredom until he found a distraction...

* * *

 _ **...**_

Meanwhile, far away, in Lady's Village, Cassandra was, for once in a long time, feeling a bit of warmth and attachment for the child that would be born soon. She didn't feel this happy since she heard the news that Alipheese the Fifteenth died...

Oh, sure, she _might_ have raped a powerful, and very much unwilling, man for several days straight waiting for him to give her the right seed, (as well as to satisfy her own desires,) but mamono in general didn't give two shits about the father in most families. The Nereneids were no different.

Ran looked concerned, "Will you need any help delivering the child, Lady Cassandra?"

Cassandra simply gave a deadpan look at her maid, "Of course not, Ran. I'm an amoeba. I can just encase the child in a part of my flesh and separate from that part, sort of like normal division in a sense. No reason to put myself through any pain... But..." her face softened, "I do appreciate your concern."

The scylla maid simply smiled, "I presume this child shall be trusted as the heir to the Nereneids and raised as you see fit?"

"Of course. Such a powerful man I captured... I doubt he'll last much longer after the nights I've spent with him. As such, this is likely to be the only child I'll have for a very long time... Though, I won't hesitate to... 'return her,' shall we say, back into my body if she proves to be weak. In this world ruled and controlled by the Goddess Ilias, mamono must be strong to survive. The Nereneids cannot have a weak heir to our name, otherwise, we will never have a chance to become the Monster Lord as we deserve, and we will most certainly be wiped out once and for all. Whether by that damn fox Tamamo or Ilias herself, I don't know, but they will pounce on us the moment we show weakness. But... I can be attached and loving to this child while I can. I'm certain she'll be an adoring baby..." Cassandra mused, feeling that the child would soon be ready to be split off from her body and be its own being.

"I'll love raising this child, as I have with you, I'm sure of it..." Ran said, appearing to be in love with the idea of raising another child of the Nereneids once more.

"Heh... Normally I would feel apathetic to a child, yet oddly enough I feel quite attached to this one. I suppose it's maternal instinct kicking in..." Cassandra remarked.

Soon, Cassandra felt that the child was ready, and surrounded her with flesh, slowly drawing the child out and eventually taking a rather small blob of flesh out from her body. They could hear the cries of the child almost instantly.

Ran almost instantly cooed and cleaned the baby up, trying to determine what type of mamono it was.

"Oh... How cute. It's a scylla, much like you Ran," Cassandra remarked, noting the baby appeared to be like a yellow octopus right now. Perhaps the more human parts would grow and reveal themselves as time went on. "I think I'll name her... Emily. What do you think?"

"It's a wonderful name, milady!"

"Good... then Emily it is. I'm sure she'll grow up to be a fine Nereneid..." Cassandra mused, smiling down at her new daughter, Emily...

* * *

 _ **...**_

The Queen Ant, Antine-Ann, was simply going about her business as per usual with handling food distribution and spies watching over Grangold's moves, when a panicked Ant Girl bursted into her part of the cave systems.

"Hm?... What is it?" Antine-Ann asked, confused as to why one of her daughters was acting this way.

"GRANGOLD IS ATTACKING! THEY ARE USING TECHNOLOGY WE HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE!" the Ant Girl shouted, somehow keeping up her monotone voice while having a major sense of urgency.

"What!? They're attacking us!? They don't have the troops to pull it off!" Antine-Ann tried to reason it out, but her fears and the Ant Girl's warning were quickly confirmed when they could distinctly hear human shouting and Ant Girls attempting to form a defensive. "Gah, all Ant Girls to me! Defend your Queen and mount an offensive! Drive the humans out of the cave systems and seal off the exits!" Antine-Ann commanded, using her mental link with her colony to try and instill some order, but found that... _something,_ was obstructing her mental command and authority somehow.

And, that something apparently turned her own colony against her, as the Ant Girl that had informed her of this raid in the first place appeared to simply blank out before lashing out and attempting to tackle her own Queen.

"QUEEN ANT DETECTED. ATTEMPTING TO CAPTURE," the Ant Girl monotoned, speaking loud enough for the nearby humans to overhear...

"The Queen Ant is in there! Quickly! Use the devices to capture her!" a human ordered not far from her domain, "In the meantime, allow the golems to deal with her pawns!"

"Golems!? Where did Grangold get the capacity to make those!?" Antine-Ann frantically kicked the Ant Girl away, feeling immense sorrow for having to do such a thing, and even more so with her attempts to flee from her domain and escape, hoping to find temporary asylum in Hellgondo or another kingdom until she could rebuild her forces again to reclaim her colony, but found that either a massive brigade of humans or a couple of golems blocked her off from any exits.

She muttered every curse she knew, trying to put as much distance between her and Grangold's forces as possible to very limited effect.

In a nightmarish amount of time, she found herself surrounded by the humans, with strange devices and machines around them along with the golems and mindless Ant Girls.

One of the humans who seemed to be the General of the bunch glanced at some of the engineers, "Load her up. Once she's been sealed and locked in, we'll have this entire Kingdom of Mamono to ourselves. Sabasa, Grand Noah, San Ilia... They'll all be making way for us soon enough. Just as long as that weird red-head scientist keeps coming around, we'll be the most advanced nation in the world in no time at all. The entirety of Sentora will treat us with revere and awe..."

Antine-Ann struggled, knocking away a few humans and even killing quite a bit before one of the devices beamed down on her, majorly weakening her... "What... Is... this?..."

"It's the wonders and miracles of technology, mamono filth. And soon everyone else will either praise us, or burn," the General smugly said, sneering, "Finish the process!"

"As you command!" one of the scientists adjusted and changed the device's frequency and energy output, and with it, Antine-Ann could feel her mind blanking out more and more as her power drained away.

"N... n... no..." with those final words, the world went white for Antine-Ann. When she eventually woke up in the dungeons of Grangold, she'd find herself stuck there, kept as... as a pet, and for many years her spite for Grangold would grow...

* * *

 ** _..._**

The Queen Bee happily hummed to herself, laying the last few batches of eggs for her tribe today. Sure, her colony of Bee and Hornet Girls may not be that big, and she herself might pale in comparison to the Spider Queen and Antine-Ann... But, she was happy with what she had. She had a peaceful life in Plansect Village, and though tensions were fairly high between her and the Alra Priestess, the Queen Alraune kept her in check and stopped any wars or conflicts from occurring.

However, that all changed one day when she was informed that, for no apparent reason other than to consume and kill off all the insects, the Alra Priestess hired the Canaan Sisters and had them and her forces begin attacking her tribe of hornets and bees. Where the Queen Alraune was in all of this, she didn't know...

But she knew this could not be allowed, and thus began a counterstrike, though in the end, it didn't do much other than halt the plants' advance and bring the two sides into a constant stalemate. But, if Miria kept on reproducing and constantly birthing more children, preferably in their adult stage, she could eventually swarm and take the rest of Plansect Village by force...

And thus, the Plansect War began... Though admittedly, it was more of a minor civil war compared to what was to come...

* * *

 _ **...**_

The Spider Queen coughed, hacking and wheezing in her deathbed. She couldn't possibly hope to find a doctor or healer in time, and she doubted she could or anyone else in the Arachne Clan could heal whatever disease or organ was failing her this time... She knew it was her time. She knew she had to appoint a successor soon, or the Arachne Clan would inevitably fall into a constant civil war for the new Queen much like the lamias, and after all she had done to unite and reel in most of the spiders, she couldn't stand the idea.

Gasping and writhing, she called for her lieutenant, an arachne named Arana. She was most dark blue in her lower spider half, with a red underside. Her upper humanoid half was a light gray, with dark markings occasionally lining parts of her body. Unlike most arachnes, she was notable for having six red compound eyes like actual insects along with her immense might and power. Her hair was a tad bit like the former Insect Queen's in the sense that she had her hair tied up in a ponytail, but she did have some of her hair partially cover the left side of her face. She notably wore no clothes whatsoever, unlike other monster who fancied themselves as nobles.

"A-Arana... It's finally time... I'm going to die..." the Spider Queen rasped when Arana entered her domain, "S-so please... Give me some parchment and a quill with some ink... I need to establish and finally choose my successor before it's over for me..."

The spider nodded, quickly teleporting off and returning shortly after with exactly what her queen requested.

The White Tarantula wrote quickly, occasionally coughing some blood onto the parchment, and eventually finished, stamping her seal of approval onto it and folding it up, handing it back to her lieutenant, "Read that... out to the rest of the Arachne Clan... Please..."

Arana calmly nodded, "It will be done, my queen."

"Th-thank you... Now... I can finally be at peace knowing the Arachne Clan will stay united and go on..." the Spider Queen smiled one last time before closing her eyes, and soon her breaths began to slow down, until finally, she stopped breathing and moving...

Arana held her fingers to the Spider Queen's throat, and felt no pulse. The Former Spider Queen was most certainly dead now.

"... He he~..." Arana smirked, giggling. She had loved and adored the Old Queen like many other arachnes, she wouldn't lie... But she knew of a better leader, more fit and suited for guiding the Arachne Clan to a glorious and dominant future... One certainly better fit than whoever the old queen had chosen to be ruler.

With that in mind, Arana used her Space-Time magic to briefly warp and distort the area around herself, before vanishing off to Yamatai...

She eventually came to be in the forests of the isolated region, and quickly darted around and through the thick trees and steep landscapes, sometimes even using her thread to cut through and weave walkways past treacherous crags and crevices.

In time, after a lot of wandering and attempts to not get lost in the vast forests and mountains of the region, Arana finally came across a particular cave she was looking for... And this time, she made sure to sniff it out to ensure that this was not Yamata-no-Orochi's domain.

A few awkward moments passed, and she then knew that this was most certainly not the Orochi's cave, rather, it was the hiding spot of a certain somebody she was looking for... and with that in mind, she dashed into the cave.

She kept going deeper and deeper into the caverns, not really noting anything of much importance until she came to a chasm in the cave, one highly webbed and decorated with various weapons and books. In the area, she could see the former Insect Queen Charlotte, and two other arachnes.

Charlotte had remained mostly the same, with the same large abdomen, fancy clothing, bust, hair style, etc. Arana could sense that she had grown far more powerful than when she was Insect Queen however... Likely from training to try and put her bitter humiliation and shame away while she plotted to return to power somehow.

One of the arachnes with her was a Tsuchigumo, another arachne with lineage and origins in Yamatai's Youkai. Unlike Charlotte however, she was much different and inhuman. Her lower spider half was fairly similar, simply being more of a violet-red color with different patterns along with two large fangs or pedipalps near her... privates. Her upper human half was light-blue in skin color, with long silvery hair and two thin white horns poking out. Her forearms were strangely like bones or another, smaller pair of legs, ending with an ivory spike instead of ordinary arms and hands. Much like Arana, this arachne preferred to not wear any clothes, though perhaps it was more out of being generally unneeded in an isolated place like this. Her name was Mizuki.

The other arachne was easily the most monstrous among the group. She was an ancient monster, an Atlach-Nacha to be precise, one whose lineage had little changes or evolutions as the many centuries and few generations passed on. Her body was thinner and more covered in chitin and exoskeleton than her modern breathren, and her longer abdomen lacked any sort of patterns. She appeared to only have six legs as well, likely because of a lack of modern evolution kept her from getting any traits the modern arachnes were known for, such as having eight legs. Her eyes, both her normal humanlike eyes and the six compound eyes above in her forehead were closed, though even if she did try to see and use her sight, she couldn't. Her eyes had degenerated from lurking so long in the darkness. Her humanoid body was vague, to say the least. She did have a human body coming out where it would be expected from the arachne body, but it looked to be more like an extended "neck" of sorts, with chitinous segments protecting her back and covering her arms. What little could be seen of her actual human traits was a deathly white in color, with her torso being lined with breasts. Her head appeared to be perfectly human however with the exception of her compound eyes, and her hair was like long violet ribbons that grew white and devoid of color at the ends. Since her kind were rare and few in number, and even lesser actively participating in world affairs, she had simply referred to herself as "Nacha" as a nickname when nearby her friends and allies.

"I can smell you're there, Arana..." Atlach-Nacha mused, sniffing and sensing out the intruding spider long before Charlotte or Mizuki noticed.

"Yes, I've returned, and with rather good news at that," Arana said, moving towards the three.

"Oh? What might this good news be?" Charlotte questioned, curious.

"The Old Spider Queen is dead. She left me with the sole letter with any sort of approval for who she intended to be successor," Arana said, showing the sealed parchment and offering it up to Charlotte.

"Is that so?... How tragic. I rather liked her, at least when she was young and when the former Queen Harpy Refletsia were still around. How they enjoyed waging wars and expanding their territory... And now they're gone, just like that. Saddening... But not enough to stop me from taking advantage of the vacancy..." Charlotte couldn't help but smile despite what she said. She knew the Old Queen was going to die for a while now, and since she's no longer Insect Queen and needed a position of power, why not go ahead and take what's lying around?

"Wonderful... It'll be my first step to reclaiming my rightful place as Insect Queen, and from there, I'll restore the Arachne Clan to its rightful place as the strongest among the insect kingdoms..." Charlotte opened up the parchment, looking over it, "... Hmph... That useless arachne was her heir? How hilarious. She must've been joking but died before writing who was to be the real heir to choose that imbecile to rule what she left behind..." Charlotte remarked, using a mixture of her magic and some ink to change and rewrite the will to be in her favor. "And, while I'm at it, why not grant my loyal servants high positions as well?... Arana, for giving me this parchment and news to begin with, you'll be the Arachne Lord, my right-hand. Mizuki, since you helped me stay unnoticed and introduced me to a few aqquaintances, I'll make you my left-hand... And Nacha, due to your might and loyalty, I'll grant the position of a general to you."

The three arachnes nodded and lowered themselves before their new Queen, "Understood, thank you, New Spider Queen Charlotte. The old queen is dead, long live the new queen of the Arachne Clan!"

"Indeed... Now, to take full control of the Arachne Clan and make our positions and control official..." Charlotte said, teleporting off with her servants soon disappearing with her.

They did find it rather easy to convince and get most of the Arachne Clan to support and allow them to be the new leaders off of the Old Spider Queen's (Modified) Last Will, but some did revolt, attempting to fight back and take power for themselves. However, due to Charlotte's power and brutal tactics, the civil war was quickly ended with Charlotte, Arana, Mizuki, and Atlach-Nacha as the new leaders of the arachnes. Despite this clear acceptance and show of authority however, other Monster Queens refused to acknowledge or trust Charlotte as the new Spider Queen because of her record of being deposed from the Insect Queen throne, instead calling her the "Spider Princess," mocking and treating her as being immature, inferior, and generally lesser than the other Queens.

She was angered by this title, to say the least, but didn't think too much on it. She was back in some form of political power and authority, and she would keep it that way... Until she saw a chance or consolidated enough power to herself, she'd simply bide her time, waiting for the right moment to dominate the world by any means necessary...

* * *

 _ **...**_

Lord Zenith stood proudly in the Legion's Port City of Olympia besides another commander in the Legion. Not only was his navy finally complete, but for all the soldiers and civilians living here, he'd have them occupied with a new game... sport?... tourney?... tournament?... Something, he liked to call the Olympics.

For now however, he was more concerned with sending the Navy off, and currently stood proudly in front of a crowd of his people.

"Legion! We have waited long, but now it is time... It is time to expand our horizons, and go forth to find other lands to conquer and war against! For now, I myself will continue to monitor and deal with what we do have in the last areas filled with monsters left, and as such, a different captain shall lead this fleet of ships in exploration. Centurion Archon?" Lord Zenith said, gesturing for the man beside him to speak.

"Thank you, Lord Zenith. I, Centurion Archon and my second-in-command Optio Agrenor, shall be the leaders in this exploration. We will either come back with the blood and valor of victorious warriors, or have plenty of sea monsters on our spears. Whatever may come to pass will be the way it is. Long live the Legion, and hail Lord Zenith!"

"Long live the Legion! Hail Lord Zenith!" the crowds shouted, cheering on and expecting the best from this exploration.

"Right," Lord Zenith said, "You'd best get going now, Centurion."

"Of course Lord Zenith. My men are ready to embark immediately," Archon said, turning away and boarding a particularly massive galleon, "Raise anchors, we set sail now!"

The various legionnaires shouted a sign of acknowledgement, the fleet beginning to set sail into the seas as the crowd cheered them on.

 _ **...**_

Weeks had passed, with seemingly no sign of a distant land in sight... By this point, most of the fleet were ready to just sail back and kill some sea monsters.

Until, someone finally sighted land. "I see land, far away from here to the East!"

Archon brightened up, moving to the most eastern part of his ship and grabbing a telescope to get a close view on the land.

He immediately saw that the houses on the coastline were most definitely not of Legion design...

"Arm the cannons! Cast your spells! We finally have a place to gain more honor and glory..." Archon commanded, ready to fight in the name of his Legion and God...

* * *

Author's Notes:

Well, now we finally get into the thick of things... For now, Lord Zenith will stay back in his homeland, waiting for news of Archon's expedition to return before going himself. As for now, it will appear that Sentora shall deal with Archon's scouting fleet... Tell me what you all think so far in a review or PM. I'm interested to learn and see all the places that are good, and the places that need improvement.

And now for some reviews...

Fish on Land: Thank you! I wasn't sure on how to approach detailing the history of the world, so I just went with whatever I could and then got a more serious tone as I went into more modern events. I'm glad to know that you think my interpretation of Alice XV and Cassandra's duel was good too!

ShadowKingLegette: Good to hear that it's entertaining to you so far! I hope it'll remain that way as the show goes on.

Lanius: It'll certainly be bloody and in the Legion's eyes, glorious and honorable. On that, I can be certain.

And, without further ado, I bid you all a good day!


	3. Land Mark

**_..._**

Thousands upon thousands of cannons boomed, exploding into the coasts of the city. Spells rained down torrents of water and ice down, steaming and conflicting with the fire and smoke, creating a sickening mist of smoke over the fields. Soldiers were beating down on drums, sounding their horns of war.

Centurion Archon smirked. "This war will be glorious... Full speed ahead! Leave none alive! Fight on, in the name of our God! In the name of Lord Zenith!"

The Legionnaires and other soldiers eagerly beat down on their shields and shouted, the fleet quickly making landmark against the coast and opening up, allowing the armies of the heavily armored knights to begin marching.

And march they did. They strongly desired to just rush out, swing wildly and do as they please, but as their Centurion or Optio did not give any commands to do so, they obeyed the standard Legion protocols and went into formation, with the mages in the far back, and the most defensive, almost turtle or tanklike soldiers in the front.

Due to their armor and wide assortment of weaponry, they advanced slowly, with the citizens of the city screaming and fleeing, running away...

Agrenor's face scrunched up, almost resembling a furious gremlin. "How dare they run away like cowards... Any real man or woman, or even child, would jump and rush out at the chance to prove themselves in battle! They deserve nothing but death and misery!"

Archon was much of the same mind, confused and quite enraged by the opposing side's refusal to fight, "They must be preparing... That is the only excuse they have!"

In a frighteningly short amount of time, the Legion had arrived to the city, the walls and many buildings already torn down by the cannonballs.

"This is strange... Why are their buildings so weak!? They should've handled the cannonballs just fine!" Agrenor muttered, some soldiers nodding as they raised their shields in preparation for an impending attack.

"Whatever the case may be, we will fight and kill any of those pathetic humans right here and now, whether in honor, or in a coward's death, we care not," Archon responded, noting a strange battalion of... Well... He didn't know how to describe them. They looked like humans, but antlike. And they were all female too. "... Ant... Girls?..."

The Legion paused. They have fought giant ants and other vermin before, but they didn't ever look like humans! And while they have heard of human-monster hybrids, they were hardly as attractive or alluring as these were.

"... Well, an enemy is still an enemy, and these 'Ant-Girls' are more honorable than anything we've seen so far!" Agrenor remarked, stirring the Legion up and preparing for the first wave.

The Mages in the back began to chant vile and horrific spells, sending bombardments of fireballs and lightning at the Ant-Girls, with many falling and dying quite easily, strangely enough. But, there were still a lot who arrived at the frontlines of the Legion, and immediately began to scratch and attack them.

The Legionnaires who stood the brunt of the blows firmly stood their ground, not giving any ground nor taking any. They strongly believed that, as being possibly related to the Giant Ants back in their homeland, these "Ant-Girls" should, they _must_ be strong.

Yet, despite their beliefs and current stance on handling them, the Ant Girls did not do much other than scratch up the armor and shields.

And, when the Legionnaires finally countered, slashing all of their heavy greatswords down at once upon the Ant Girls, they saw that their exoskeletons gave out easily. Too easily. They just kept repeating the strategy against the swarms of Ant-Girls til none came at them anymore. By then, all the humans had already fled...

Archon and Agrenor looked concerned. This was more like a sport than war... They hadn't even seen any humans fight them yet, and these monsters... They weren't supposed to be this easy to kill!

"It must've been a fluke. Beginner's luck, as they say. Come, we should pillage and loot this city of everything, burn it down, and move on. Forwards!" Archon commanded, letting the organized Legionnaires disband and roam around the city, taking anything that looked to be of value. Books, Arts, Jewelry, Swords that were badly made, Armor that was hardly considered to be armor, anything and everything was taken and brought back to the fleet of ships.

"... This all looks like a jester's work," Agrenor remarked, looking over the various armor and swords they took from the city.

"That's because it is a jester's work, Optio," a Legionnaire joked, laughing at the poorly made and revealing armor along with his comrades. Why didn't their helmets cover the entirety of their heads, instead leaving the face open? Where were the pauldrons? The thigh plating? The knee protection? More importantly, why was it so thin? Anyone could punch through that, easily. Even the ones that looked to be made for commanding officers were rather weak, and without a single enchantment at that!

"Whatever the case may be, we must take these back to Lord Zenith in Avalon," Archon said, "As such, I'm sending the Thirteenth Century back to our homeland with these items, a magical shot of these buildings, and a dozen 'Ant-Girl' corpses as show of proof. Am I understood?"

Heavy groans and sighs echoed from the soldiers of the Thirteenth Century, saying: "Of course Centurion," "We obey Centurion," "Nobody wants to fight a bunch of weaklings anyways, Centurion..."

"Good. Now go!" Archon commanded, the soldiers immediately going forth to gather up the items and corpses onto their galleon, eventually sailing off to bring these marks of proof to the capital city.

"In the meanwhile... Some of this city is still intact, though it could many reparations and improvements," Agrenor said, "As such, the Twelfth Century will occupy this place to safeguard our galleons and show our enemies what a _real_ city looks and acts like."

As with the Thirteenth Century, the Twelfth Century was not too happy with this assignment, but at least they didn't have to set sail, and perhaps their enemies will come to reclaim their city... Maybe.

Thus, the Legion generally set assignments and gathered around to think and plan, before the Centurion and Optio both agreed to just go with a simple march across the land to find new opponents, rivals, and cities until they got a map of the place.

"Right. First through Eleventh Centuries, follow me!" Archon shouted, moving out towards a random direction from the city, with the Legions organizing and following suit, continuing to play their drums and horns.

* * *

 _ **...**_

Cassandra simply hummed to herself, passing the time as she calmly watched over her village. She had sensed a massive amount of humans suddenly arrive in the Gold Region from the coasts and the massive loss of life from the local population that followed their arrival, and now she was waiting to see if that disgrace of a Monster Lord Alice the Sixteenth would say or do anything about it. Maybe she'd eat Alice's messenger, just to spite her... No, that was a pretty poor idea that would likely get her convicted of "treason" or something foolish like that. Besides, it could actually be one of the Four Heavenly Knights, and they... As much as Cassandra hated to admit it, were probably stronger than her.

In time, an Elder Succubus came to the village, coming to her directly. "Lord Alipheese has a message for all Monster Queens and Nobles to hear."

Cassandra simply felt a bit of relief at knowing it wasn't a Heavenly Knight. She never liked those four. "I can tell. Is it about the humans attacking Grangold?"

The Elder Succubus nodded, "Yes. It appears they're of a foreign nation and should be treated cautiously. They slaughtered Ant Girls and Humans alike with no remorse, even taking great joy out of it. They're barbaric... Even more so than the Church of Ilias."

"Really now? How amusing. I wonder how long before a Monster Queen gets tired of them and wipes them all out..." Cassandra mused, giggling at the thought of a supposedly high and imposing menace being wiped out by some pacifist monster like the Harpy Queen Lucretia.

"Current estimates actually places their commanders at around Monster Noble rank, and they may report to a higher authority. We shouldn't underestimate these savages," the Elder Succubus insisted, trying to get Cassandra to take this seriously.

"Hmph... I doubt it'll amount to much in the long run. Let King Grangold deal with it himself, if he can't and the invading humans take over the Gold Region? Oh well, not important. If King Grangold drives them off? Then it'll be as normal. No need for us to be involved... Though now that I think about it, it might be entertaining," Cassandra mused, "But for now, I'll stay my ground here in Lady's Village."

"... Very well then. I wish you luck, Lady Cassandra," the Elder Succubus said, soon flying off.

"... Mother? Who was that?" a quiet voice asked. The speaker was a relatively young girl, perhaps in her early teenage years. She resembled her mother with her pale skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair with green tints, but that was generally where it ended. She was a scylla, unlike her Amoeba Mother, with large tentacles neatly tied into twintails by simple blue ribbons. She wore a white long-sleeved shirt with a button-down collar, and a long black skirt covered the entirety of her lower body.

"It was nothing, my daughter," Cassandra simply said, treating the whole news as nothing important.

"But Emily wants to know!" the scylla insisted, pouting.

"Believe me, it was hardly important. If it does become interesting or relevant in the future, I will tell you. You don't want to be bored with it, now do you?"

"Fine..." Emily, despite saying otherwise, looked quite disappointed.

To brighten up her daughter, all the mother had to say was, "Oh, I believe Ran is making chocolate right now. Why don't you go and help her?"

"Ooh!" Emily dashed off in a blur, off to go "help," and probably wind up eating all of Ran's pastries and sweets.

"Honestly... That girl's going to get cavities one of these days..." Cassandra remarked, before moving on with her day.

* * *

 _ **...**_

The Spider Princess was attempting to knit right now, seeing how Mizuki often wove when she was bored.

She found knitting to be quite annoying, to say the least, when she somehow wrapped herself up in her own silk. But she was fine with this, not like anyone else would dare go into her personal part of the caves and see her like this—

"Um... My queen? Why are you wrapped up in silk?"

 _Son of a bitch... At least it's just Arana, judging from her voice,_ Charlotte thought as she weakly tried to turn her cocoon around and stabbed her knitting needles through her silk to show why she was in this state.

Arana blinked, but cleared her voice, "Well, my queen, there has been a message from Lord Alipheese."

"Ugh... Is it another message for me to stop endorsing human enslavement and domestication? If so, then tell her to fuck off until she gets her dreams and goals into line... Not in those exact words, of course," Charlotte said, slowly cutting through her botched attempt at weaving.

"Surprisingly, no, it's not that this time," Arana claimed, "It's more of something that happened in Grangold. Apparently there's a foreign nation invading and attacking them."

Charlotte huffed, "How rude... I was the one who was going to conquer Grangold, not some no-name nation nobody has ever heard of before. How strong are their soldiers?"

"Quite powerful. They butchered the city's defending Ant Girls like they were nothing. Though, that might be more due to military discipline and the shock of a sudden invasion working against the defenders. I imagine a fleet of cannonballs suddenly crashing though your walls and homes would make even those robotic drones feel scared and hysterical. I simply wonder why these foreign nation didn't continue shooting from afar instead of going up close for a ground invasion," Arana answered, and then made her own question.

"Perhaps they're stretching their limbs or something. I imagine a long time on a boat would leave someone with a lot of cramped muscles or lack of reflexes," Charlotte answered, soon cutting herself out of her cocoon. "Oh, would you look at that, it's thick enough to be like a blanket!" Charlotte remarked, holding up the rather badly-made weaving of webs and silk up.

"Y-yeah..." Arana quietly agreed, not wanting to anger her queen by saying Mizuki's weavings and arts were much, _much_ better than that. "I... I-I'm sure you'll catch up with Mizuki in no time at all..."

"Really? You think so?" Charlotte smirked to herself, "Another thing to be proud of, I suppose. Queen Ant and Bee can't say they're any better at this than me, that's for sure! And they're certainly aren't as skilled or powerful either..."

"Of course, my queen. Those two will regret their decision to overthrow you someday..." the Arachne Lord assured, ready for the day for her queen to rise to power as Insect Queen once more.

"Oh, I _know_ they already do," the Spider Princess giggled at the memory, "Queen Bee has been at war with the plants of Plansect Village for quite some time now, and I have reason to believe Queen Ant is imprisoned or sealed by Grangold. Had I still been Insect Queen, it would've been my _duty_ to help them and their kingdoms, regardless of my relations or thoughts on them. Now, as Spider Queen, I'm quite free from their issues and free to do mostly anything within my authority... but, enough about those two. Is there anything else about this foreign nation you can tell me?"

"At the moment? No, none that I know of. I suspect they'll be expanding their influence quite soon however..." Arana guessed.

"I suppose we'll just wait until that time comes then," Charlotte said, "and I suspect it'll be quite soon..."

* * *

 _ **...**_

The Grangold King looked quite concerned as he heard the news, "Oh dear... An invasion? And so many losses at that..."

The General nodded, "It is as they say, my King. We need to form a counterstrike immediately, drive these barbarians back and reclaim our land and city."

"But of course, General," Grangold said, "... There's one slight problem though."

"... And that is?" the General asked uneasily.

"We may have become a bit too reliant on the Ant Girls to do things for us... And they too, have become lax and lazy just being our servants," Grangold admitted.

"That does sound like an issue... Perhaps their Queen still has some battle strategies?" the General questioned.

"I... I would not advise on that. I doubt she'll help us at all. If anything, such an immoral and evil being would just betray and destroy us," Grangold said.

"That is a good point... But the Ant Girls have practically done everything for us, and now we're met with something they can't do..." the General mused, "We'll certainly be destroyed or conquered if this keeps up..."

"Then... Then we go into Total War, we devote everything to drive away these people. Our Golems, our Ant Girls, our engineers and magicians, everything will go towards our military..." Grangold decided, unsure if this was the right thing to do so soon, but went with it anyways. "And my royal line is adept in wizardry and magic... If I were to train, maybe, just maybe I can help out myself..."

"Really now? You have a bloodline steeped in magic?" the General remarked, surprised that the lazy king had any talent at all, "Well, in that case, I suppose I'll whip you into shape. I've trained some wizards in my time, and until we get some professional military mages here from the other cities, I'll be enough... I think. Of course, this is all with your consent and permission, my King," the General offered.

"... I'd like that, thank you General. Come, Grangold must be alerted and we must begin training..." the King said, rising from his throne and walking out of the room, the General following suit.

* * *

 _ **...**_

A rather runty and diminutive person with purple hair was ordering food at a tavern with a scantily-clad woman with white hair and royal markings. They were Luka Hein and Alice Fateburn XVI, a travelling "hero" and gourmet respectively.

"... So, Alice, I imagine you know about the rumors of an invasion at Grangold recently, right?" Luka asked Alice, keeping his voice to a whisper.

"Of course I do, idiot. It's nothing I can help with, nor is it something you should be concerned with yet. From what my scouts reported, they're far beyond your abilities right now. So stay quiet, continue on with your quest, and deal with them if they're still around later. And right now, let's focus on eating... I want some variety every now and again," Alice responded, seeming to be closed to further conversation.

"I see..." Luka said, but he hardly seemed satisfied with that. _These new humans certainly sound powerful and barbaric... But I can't let that discourage me. I know that there can be coexistence, despite our differences!_ he thought optimistically, with perhaps some naivety in there as well.

* * *

 _ **...**_

The First through Eleventh Centuries of the Legion marched, killing anything they met. Whether it was a human or a "Monster-Girl," they attacked and usually killed it quite easily. They wondered why everything was so... meek, here.

"These monsters are strange..." a Legionnaire muttered, "They're nothing like the monsters we know. They can talk just like us, and they're much softer and easier to slay than an ogre or wendigo. They also seem like they're perpetually in breeding season... They keep on trying to undress and rape us. Why? Seems much more practical to just kill us or try to kidnap us."

"I dunno man. These are some pretty weird and freaky girls though. Quite a few that I'd be able to see having to rely on rape just to find a partner to breed with," another soldier answered, shrugging. "I wonder if we can train and use these monster-girls as training targets like we do with gremlins and imps..."

"Maybe? Seems pretty hard though, they look like they have some intelligence, which could be bad. Maybe take a few prisoner and see how they fare in the arena? We need something to spice up the gladiator shows anyways," he replied, idly wondering how one of those strange worm-girls would even pick up a flail or shield.

"I'd say round up a few of those Ant-Girls, Octopus-Girls, and maybe the odd Mantis or two, put them on a ship, drill them into shape, throw them in the arena, and see who survives the first couple of rounds. I'd wager my bets on the Mantises. Those girls really can fight!... Assuming it isn't one of us of course. Then they just just panic and flail about wildly trying to beat us."

"Naw man, hell naw, I'd wager mine on those monster-girls with the snake hair. They look like the Gorgons we used to fight in the Acropolis years ago, and if these monster-girls got the same petrifying skill the Gorgons do, then they're going to get _real_ far in the ring. Not many monsters have adapted and evolved to petrification yet, unlike fire and other common elements," the Legionnaire said, wagging his finger.

"Oh yeah, true, true. We'd have to find one of those monsters though..." the other Legionnaire hummed, "Man, it's getting real confusing talking about both our monsters and these new monster-girls."

"Then just call them something different, like 'Mamono,' or something like that, you imbeciles," Centurion Archon shouted to them from the front, "Also, my wager'd be on those snake-haired girls!"

"See, see! He agrees with me! Now we _have_ to find one of those snake-haired monst— er, mamono, and take them back to the arena to see how good they are at fighting," the Legionnaire said, the others listening in nodding and agreeing that they should capture the next attacking snake-haired girl, or any other mamono for that matter, and see how they'd do against normal monsters.

 _ **...**_

Time passed, and soon, Archon halted the legion's march.

"Hm... That landmark over there matches the one on the map..." Archon mused, looking up and down on it, "And if I'm right, that means we're in the 'Gold' Region, the Northwestern Area of this continent known as 'Sentora.' We can keep going to the east, to arrive at the Noah Region, or we can go South across the mountains, and reach the Safina Region. What do you think, Optio?"

"I can take a small deployment of soldiers and move across the mountains. They must be thick and treacherous if nobody's found a path through them yet, as such, it'd be best for me to take a small group rather than a large army. You can keep going east to arrive at Succubus and Lady's Village, or to Gold Port, or to some other place," Optio Agrenor advised.

"Hm... I see. Very well then. You will take a small amount of forces and head towards the Safina Region. I shall take the rest and continue the march. Understood everyone?" Archon said, with most of the soldiers agreeing and dividing themselves up into Agrenor's small army of soldiers and Archon's armies.

"Right. With all that settled, we shall part ways now Optio Agrenor and those who accompany him. Remember, conquest, valor, glory, and god. For the Legion! For Lord Zenith!" Archon shouted, clanking his sword and shield together.

"For the Legion! For Lord Zenith!" the Centuries repeated, also beating their shields and swords together, before separating and continuing their marches...

* * *

Author's Notes:

Well, it would appear that the Legion is quite powerful compared to most of what we've seen so far...

Now, before you begin asking why, let me explain a bit:

Primal Alipheese created the monsters seen in Octavius' continent first, much like Ilias had prototype humans. However, she didn't have a basis to go off of, so she just emphasized and massively improved the monsters' capacity for evolution, until eventually leaving and coming across Ilias' humanity, which she used to eventually make the Monster-Girls/Mamono seen in Sentora, which, much like humanity, were weakened in favor of a smarter, more stable race.

Unlike Proto-Humans however, the monsters did evolve past their flaws at first and grew on, until the San Ilia colonists arrived to their continent in the Great Monster Wars. From here, the constant fighting between the colonists and the constantly changing monsters, diseases, civil wars, and other issues eventually hardened and made them naturally stronger than an average monster as the thousand years between modern day MGQ and the Great Monster Wars passed. Would a standard legionnaire be a match for a Monster Queen or even a Monster Noble? Of course not, but they'd fall much slower than an average human.

... Okay, now you can all start poking holes and telling me how stupid that reasoning is, but I tried.

Speaking of telling me about how I'm doing, I do have one review to answer...

Fleece Johnson: Well... Not sure on what to say. All I can say immediately, on the spot, is that it's reviews like this that really do fuel and push me on. I will admit that there are heavy Roman themes in the Legion, though there are parts of Viking and Spartan culture and ideas mixed in. I was in fact thinking about perhaps having a chapter about a survivor or soldier on the battlefield, but that'll be for later, when things start picking up. I did try the idea of having first contact be a thing, but I decided to scrap it, since I couldn't think of the Legion actually trying to talk until people started trying to align or join them. I am trying to keep up a good pace, though how that will turn out, I'm not sure. It's certainly nice to see that someone noticed that Cassandra and Spider Princess are quite important... (Speaking of which, MGQ should have character tags now on Fanfic, so I suppose I'll probably be the first to tag those two.) I'm certainly going to attempt to tackle on how naive Luka's dream is when a civilization like the Legion is around, maybe I'll do well, maybe it'll be shit, I don't know, but I can hope for the best. I've sort of established the standard Legionnaire's power in this story with how they easily killed Ant Girls, which places them at about the Level 40 range (Ant Girls in the VN were level 39.) Of course, a solo Legionnaire fight will eventually come, of that I can assure. I certainly do hope you have fun reading this along with everyone else!

And so, without further ado, I bid you all a good day!


	4. Warlords of Avalon

_**...**_

Dust and stones were swirling in the area, a harsh wind blowing past an average and balding man in armor and robes. He paced about the ruined temple of Ilias, furious, sorrowful, yet somewhat joyful at the desecration the monsters had torn and bashed into the useless goddess' shrine and the deaths of the last devoted worshipers.

A messenger in light armor soon ran up to him, "The people of Avalon demand answers as to what happened to our last traces and connections to our holy goddess, General Julius."

The general turned to him, scoffing. "The Goddess Worshipers got what was coming to them, that's all. Ilias has abandoned us long ago... It's just now that the useless priests and nuns perish to the unforgiving cruelty this land has to offer to us. I feel no remorse for the men butchered or the women raped on this site. They had a choice between our new Legion or the god who abandoned us... And they chose god. I'm sure they're talking to her as we speak."

"The people won't like that..." the messenger warned.

"Let them decide what to think of it. They know we have bigger priorities right now... The new monster, Grendal, has been seen speaking in the same language as the imps and orcs, and possibly trying to get them into an alliance. Jotun to the north is wiping out our frontier villages and buffers against the trolls and dragons. Blitzel Krieg in the seas has been getting more and more active. Ymir itself is rampaging through the heart of our lands, bringing a deathly frost and cold upon all of our people. You tell me what I should do, messenger. Should I deal with the monsters destroying all of our lands and people, or waste time with faithless dogs who'd rather pray to a bitch they call a 'God?'" Julius snapped, startling the messenger.

"... No. Don't answer. We know the answer already. We all do. We swore ourselves, our blood, and our honor when we formed the Legion. Loyalty is to the people first, not to dogs who wouldn't do anything, and certainly not to a god only our forefathers claimed to have seen," Julius went on, beginning to walk away from the last ruins of the old God Ilias, "Let us go forth. We both know it'll only take one or two generations for our kin to completely forget Ilias even existed anyways."

"Is that for better, or worse?" the messenger called out.

"For better. Honor and truth before cowards and deedless gods. I'd sooner worship another man for his valor and skill in the battlefield before I worship a god who doesn't even do anything to help her most faithful slaves."

* * *

 _ **...**_

In the present day, in the Legion's Capital of Avalon, in the throne room of their Chief God, several people stood or sat around in a meeting.

On the throne was Lord Zenith, his expression masked by his helmet.

Near his side was a bulky man with thick and hard-wrought armor made from a wide variety of materials, though it mostly consisted of an unknown steel and dragon scales. He was a "god," much like Lord Zenith, apotheosized into divinity for his legendary defensive deeds in the battlefield. Of course, he was inferior to Zenith, and as such, was only a commanding general in the Legion. His named was revered as Caligula, the Guardian.

In a dark corner of the room was a hunched elder, cloaked completely in darkness by his gray robes and capes. This light-hating freak was known as Vaal, one of the strongest magicians in the Legion. He was known to be an introvert who liked to lock himself in his room, only coming out into the battlefield for certain tasks and the occasional stress relief.

A certain warlord in thorned and bleak armor patiently tapped his foot as he crossed his arms. He was known to be the most aggressive and bloodthirsty general in the Legion, famed for his brutality but not quite revered as a god like Caligula or Lord Zenith. This "demigod" was Luzbel.

The last man was unlike the others. Instead of being a warrior or mage, he was like a snake, sneaky and, though the Legion knew but could not prove it, a coward. He wore gaudy and flashy silks and linens, with a laurel of golden carving of leaves and branches on his long hair. On his back was a strange, out of place blunderbuss... This man called himself Flavius, though some Legionnaires had come to calling him the "Flatterer."

Currently, these very different men were butting heads over the idea of what should be considered honorable and what shouldn't as Lord Zenith was trying to ignore them and think.

"Magic is honorable," Vaal insisted, "But only when the enemy can cast magic as well."

"It seems more of a detriment to physical progress, if anything," Luzbel remarked, "You specialize exclusively in magic and you look like a twig under all of those robes and cloaks."

"Yet I'd still be capable of tossing you into a pocket world and wipe out entire hordes of monsters with but a few spells. Not to mention magic could theoretically be used to artificially buff myself as well..." Vaal said, a faint purple mist swirling around his fingers.

"I didn't see _you_ in the Battle for Death Mountain. Too busy researching new ways to fight through magic, but we all know you're too much of a damn coward to have actually went out there and fought against the ancient monsters that dwelled there, unlike Lord Zenith and everyone else here. Even Flavius helped," Luzbel taunted, knowing fully well that Vaal starting to feel an urge to crush him on the spot.

Caligula cleared his throat, stopping the confrontation, "While Vaal wasn't around for the Battle for Death Mountain, there's still the fact that he was the one that broke the minds of the ancient dragons that used to roost in Dragon's Peak. If not for him, our dreams for Dragon Riders might've never came to be. And let's be honest Luzbel, Flavius didn't do much other than command the air fleets."

Flavius looked quite annoyed, "Hey! I killed my fair share of trolls and demons in that battle!"

"Quite clearly it wasn't enough to dispel your... 'reputation,' Prefect," Luzbel snickered upon seeing Flavius reach for his blunderbuss.

"Enough! Silence, all of you!" Lord Zenith shouted, immediately causing all of the warriors to stop and stand at attention. "I personally am apathetic to magic's use, only that it be known that it is only to be used in warfare for glory and honor when we know the enemy too, can use magic. Other than that, I don't care, though I would advise mages to physically train and exercise more often. It seems most mages are slightly below the standard legionnaire in physical might and skill, but that is unacceptable. Am I understood?"

"Of course Lord Zenith, we obey!" they all swore in turn.

"Good... Now, is there any reports of how our navy has fared in discovering new lands?" Lord Zenith questioned.

"No, not yet," Flavius said, "But I can confirm they were not attacked by Blitzel Krieg as they sailed."

"Blitzel Krieg..." Lord Zenith sighed. That, along with Apollyon, were perhaps the only things the Legion feared after the deaths of Ymir and his brothers. Apollyon was shrouded in legend, only being known as some female devil that murdered and stole the Heart of Caesar, and Blitzel Krieg... Blitzel Krieg was something all of its own. No matter how many times Blitzel Krieg was impaled by a ship, bombarded into gore, or otherwise killed, the giant sea monster always surfaced again somehow to terrorize the Legion's ships.

"It's been a few days now," Zenith mused, "The navy, if they were going at full speed, should be out of Blitzel Krieg's typical hunting territory by now."

"It should be so my Lord," Vaal agreed, "We should hear reports from them sometime soon. If not, then we can assume the worst."

"Indeed. Now... What of the Perfect Soldier project you've been working on?" Zenith then questioned.

"Ah, yes, that... It is difficult, finding an optimal way to bring out the hidden traits and potential locked away by how we all evolved. I'd rather begin my experiments on a monster before I see about trying to modify a human, as monsters appear to have far more potential evolutionary paths and hidden abilities than humans," Vaal said, "I'd also require a volunteer for the final experiment itself."

"I'd be willing to volunteer one of my Centurions for that purpose, Vaal," Luzbel remarked, "I do hope he stays in one piece when he comes out of your lab however."

"Of course Luzbel, of course..." Vaal muttered curses in between his breaths, not really wanting the fruit of his experiments to go to one of Luzbel's barbaric generals.

"Well... With all of that said and out of the way, why don't we begin planning for the Olympics? I believe I've scheduled the Gladiator Games to begin within a week or so..." Zenith mused as he changed the subject, much to the delight of the other warlords.

* * *

 ** _..._**

The Grangold King coughed up blood, bruised and battered by his general's brutal training.

"Come on, my King, you will not become strong enough to fight in the battlefield like that!" the strict trainer said in a strange mix of respect and harshness.

"I'm trying, I'm trying... It's so hard..." the King whined, feeling sore and shaky all over. His bones felt like they were beaten, and his legs were like jelly.

"There have been little mage boys and girls more determined and passionate than you are!" the General shouted, his words cutting into the King's pride, "If you cannot rely on your own body to support you through training, then what chance will you have against the invading nation? Will you let countless ant girls and humans throw away their lives as you let yourself give out for one day's rest?"

The King grit his teeth, and pulled himself back up, unwilling to give up when the General had reminded him of the inevitable destruction his nation was facing...

"Much better... We're getting somewhere with physical training now at the very least," the General mused, "But I do fear for how you'll fare in magic..."

"I'd much rather be casting magic spells than do this..." the King admitted quietly, though the General pretended not to hear it.

The two kept training for hours on end, vigorously sharpening their skills and soon enough, the basics in magic. The King found himself quite adept with even the more complex spells, most likely due to his heritage and affinity for magic.

However, the joy would not last. Soon enough, another messenger came panting through the door, scratched and beaten.

"M-my King... The entire west coast... It's been decimated. All of the frontier villages and strongholds... Either demolished or taken over by force. We know nothing about the survivors, but considering we haven't heard or seen from anyone..."

"I... I see..." the King somberly mused, looking down in shame. "Wh-where are they now?..."

"We believe them to be stopping nearby Succubus and Lady's Village. We also believe they've split off slightly— Rumors are circulating around right now that there is a rather large scout force of heavily armored knights marching through the mountains in between us and Safina."

"This isn't good... They're looking for complete and total domination, and unless we figure something out about their armor or abilities, we're not taking them down. We need more power, more allies..." the General thought deeply, but for all his experience, he had nothing. He wasn't used to such a deadly force being so quick and portable— Back when the human nations would war and fight among themselves, news of anything even remotely resembling a massive army of unmounted knights with training, weapons, and full-armor would've spread like wildfire within a few days at best, and it would've taken a few weeks or even months for the mobilized knights to arrive at their destination, yet... It's only been about a day, and the foreign nation is already getting close to taking over half of Grangold's territory.

"... I..." the King tried to say something, but found himself too scared to say so.

"What? What is it my King?" the messenger and General questioned, concerned.

"... I'm... I'm going to negotiate with the Queen Ant... We need a strong ruler to lead us, and quite clearly I'm not going to be any better anytime soon, so... as much as I'd hate to even _see_ her, I'm going to go and talk about an alliance... Maybe approach the Spider Princess too, along with Grand Noah... Try to form a military pact against this nation," the King sighed, not even believing that he actually said that he wanted to so much as see the Queen Ant.

"No, you can't my King! Monsters are nothing but treacherous, lecherous, conniving, evil murderers and slavers who'd just as soon backstab you as they would help you with this! They obey nothing but power! The only things those so-called 'civilized' creatures value is might and strength! It's even how they elect their Monster Lord, if rumors are right!" the General instantly protested, trying to make his King reconsider. "The Queen Ant would sooner welcome and spread her legs for these barbarians, considering her freedom might be possible with their victory! Do not trust that whore!"

"Silence!" the Grangold King snapped, surprisingly causing not only the messenger, but the General to cower slightly, "I have made up my mind... I am going to talk to her for a brief moment, and then I'll return to continue training, _am I understood?_ "

"Y-yes my King, of course my King..." the General sweated, yet mentally sighed in relief. It appeared the King was growing a backbone and a will to lash out and silence his inferiors at long last...

 _..._

The King walked down into the dungeons, greeting and smiling to the various guards and scientists as he passed by, until finally, he came upon the Queen Ant's prison.

"Leave us," the King said, gesturing for the scientists to exit. When they didn't and simply looked at him with confused expressions, he narrowed his eyes, "I said leave! _Now!_ "

The panicked researchers and guards then understandably rushed out, leaving their works discontinued for now.

The Queen Ant simply quirked an eyebrow at him, also with the same confused expression as the scientists and guards had. "The few times I see you, you're a jolly oaf who doesn't even notice me rotting away over here, and now you're someone who vaguely looks like they're a leader now. More or less. Are those... tears? It seems like you've cried lately as well... And there's the fact you're right here, in front of me. What the hell happened? What are you playing at, o 'Great' King of Grangold?"

"... Tell me, Queen Ant—"

"I have a name. It's Antine-Ann. Perhaps use it if you're going to treat me like a sentient being for once."

"... Tell me, Queen Antine-Ann. Do you value your subjects' lives like I do? Be honest," the King asked, deciding to entertain the Queen and actually call her by name. He needed to be on her good side after all.

"What kind of... Of course I do, you excuse for a King. What kind of person do you think I am? I don't needlessly toss away or force my dear ant girls to perish in pointless wars like humans do. That should be a question you ask yourself and other human royalty, who have always favored the sword over the voice."

"Just shut up and answer my questions!" the Grangold King commanded, briefly shocking Antine-Ann for a bit. "... Now, you know that we have been mostly integrated as one, with Ant Girls as the slaves, and us humans as the masters?"

"I do, quite bitterly at that," Antine-Ann hissed, crossing her arms. She couldn't help but feel a rare sense of respect for him however. He actually had the gall to try and boss her around, knowing fully well that she'd remember it when the possible day came that she broke free.

"Well. That's changed. We've both become the prey now. A foreign nation is attacking us, and I fear they'll wipe out both humans and ant-girls alike..." the King said, finally getting to his point.

Antine-Ann didn't quite know how to react to that for about the span of three seconds before bursting out in laughter, "Ahahahaha! You really think that's going to trick me!? My, I haven't had a laugh in years now! What a joke! You can't possibly be serious... A foreign nation? What? That's complete bullshit and you know it. There's only four major human kingdoms, and the various monster clans and tribes that exist all over the three continents."

"... I see. So that's how it is?" the King mused.

"Of course. Do you take me not only as a slave, but a fool as well?" Antine-Ann remarked.

"Fair enough. I suppose I'll have to fight this war without your help then... But I have a vague feeling I'll fail anyways, and both of our kingdoms will be obliterated. Farewell, Queen Antine-Ann," the King sighed, and began moving away to leave.

Antine-Ann paused. That wasn't normal for the humans' mind games and attempts to toy around with her... "Wait... You were serious?" she called out.

The King turned around. She could almost see her own feelings of terror and fear from the day she was captured in his eyes. The eyes of someone who knows they were about to lose everything and could do nothing to stop it.

"Would I joke about having half my kingdom razed to the ground and the mountain of humans and ant-girls that I could do nothing to help or save?" his expression didn't change at all, further unnerving and deconstructing Antine-Ann's belief of it all being a joke. "I'll be back by tomorrow evening, after I'm done training. Think long and hard, Antine-Ann. Do you want a bunch of barbarians raping and pillaging our kingdoms into the ground, or would you rather continue this grudge between the two of us and let both of us die? Think, Antine, think..."

And with that, the King left, moving on to continue his training...

* * *

 _ **...**_

The Centuries led by Archon marched on, with a few joking and cheering on as they rhythmically stamped, and a few guarding the crude, makeshift carriage carting around a few mamono prisoners the legionnaires had caught and captured alive. While normally these girls would be more than able to break out of the wooden carriage and run like hell, they were unfortunately contained by a barrier constructed and held up by a mage, with a new one taking shift every hour or so.

A particular mamono, a medusa, shivered quietly in fright. She hadn't intended to catch their attention, only just take a few peeks at them marching along just to confirm if the rumors were true or not, when some of the legionnaires noticed and quickly hounded her down, keeping her locked up like an insect in a cage...

She particularly felt ashamed and traumatized when she, someone who didn't really wear all that many or heavy clothing to begin with, was still tackled and beaten down by a massive knight in armor that looked like it weighed at least ten pounds a piece. The fact that they seemed to be making fun of her and shaking or poking her every now and then like some sort of zoo animal made it even worse...

Fairly soon, the march came to a halt, and the carriage slid to a sharp stop, worrying the Medusa slightly. Were they finally going to execute her and the others?...

 _"Alright boys, rest up, we march again tomorrow at the crack of dawn!"_ a particularly tall and muscular man with a horned helm and thick silver armor gilded with trace amounts of gold bellowed. He seemed to be the commander of this horrible army... But she couldn't tell. Their... "language," was far too guttural and their pronunciation was strange and bizarre.

 _M-maybe I can seduce him, offer up my body... He's undoubtedly a male, he can fall for my charms..._ the Medusa tried to reassure herself, but to no avail. She knew she wouldn't get anywhere near him with the amount of soldiers, and now tents, were in between her cage and his position. Besides... She might not look like a loli at all, but her hips or chest might as well have been washboards. She couldn't charm a man she knew locally, much less some random stranger who'd probably just sooner slice her head off...

She gave a small yip in surprise of another cold gauntlet prodding and poking her. Yet another one of those mysterious foreign knights, tugging and treating her as some pet or exhibit...

 _"Ya'll think this girly can actually think for herself? Gal's been looking pretty somber and down ev'ar since we got 'ere,"_ the knight said, appearing to carry a tone of... ignorance? An accent? Something, when compared to the other voices and ways the knight's comrades spoke.

 _"Bah, mamono's probably just faking it. Remember the dopplegangers and mimics that used to live around where we established Caliburn before we wiped them all out? Those bastards were good at pretending to be human when they tried mimicking us, but that doesn't change the fact they're bloodthirsty, murderous monsters that should be killed on sight,"_ another knight remarked, drawing a knife, _"You watch here, I'm going to show you guys that this girl is just another unfeeling monster. These mamono are no different from our local monsters..."_

The Medusa's eyes widened in terror, and she crawled away from the knight, shaking her head, trying to stay away, yet a knight on the side of the cage behind her just shoved her over, and right into the knife-wielding knight's grasp. The knight didn't do much other than make a few cuts, yet they were still horribly painful and humiliating, making her realize over and over just how much control and power they held over her pitable life right now...

It was enough to actually make her finally cry, "I-I'm sorry!... I promise, I won't rape anyone ever again... Please, believe me... Oh, First protect me... I don't want to die..." she wailed, curling up into a ball.

The Knights, contrary to what she expected, actually backed away in horror and shame.

 _"Holy shit! It can think! It can talk! It can feel!"_

 _"Damn, it really can cry? Most monsters don't even know what sadness is!"_

 _"Curses... We've dishonored somebody thinking they were a mere animal... They're more along the lines of a prisoner, not an animal..."_

In time, the leading knight in silver shoved his way to the front, overhearing the mutterings and arguments about the mamono.

 _"Silence everyone! The hell is going on here?!"_ he shouted, terrifying the mamono prisoners and quelling his men.

 _"Centurion Archon, we've figured out this here Medusa-thing can actually feel and talk!"_ a knight seemed to inform the leading knight of something.

 _"Really now? Let me see about that..."_ the leading knight moved people aside, kneeling to look down at the disheveled medusa.

She twitched and fidgeted awkwardly, "U-um... He-hello?... I... I didn't mean to threaten or fight any of you... please, let me go..."

The lead knight seemed quite intrigued. _"Well. This is unexpected. I think we are suffering from a simple difference in languages. Such a pity. Very well then. Ten of you will take her and these carriages back to our conquered port city. Go now! It is dishonorable to treat thinking, feeling prisoners like mere animals."_

 _"Right away_ _sir!"_ about ten of the knights went around the carriage containing the various mamono prisoners, and slowly went on to cart them off back to the port city.

The Medusa sweated and wept in fear, thinking this was an execution taking place away from the others... But, soon she found comfort, realizing that at least, for now, it seemed that the knights weren't going to hurt her anymore...

* * *

 _ **...**_

Charlotte sipped at her tea, relatively calm despite her knowing fully well that there appeared to be a massive amount of strong humans marching into Grangold. She, along with many other monsters, didn't really care for that fact... It was more that her desired place to conquer for the Arachne Clan was being robbed from them by some no-name nation nobody even heard of before. Still, now that she meditated on it, she couldn't help but feel slightly... turned on, by how cruel and similar to the Arachne Clan these foreigners were. She couldn't have done it better herself, except for perhaps burning down all of the towns and cities down. She'd rather web them up or remake them as the arachnes needed. Rape, pillage, murder, and rule... Exactly what she would've done to Grangold herself, if not for the fact that she didn't have the forces to pull it off all the way through. And of course, there's that pesky Monster Lord Alipheese XVI... Always advocating for coexistence, but never taking action to enforce it.

"I do wonder who their leader is though... I'd love to see who the brilliant mind is behind this many humans being able to raze through the Gold Region with no problem. Maybe I'll even take them in as my slave~..." she giggled to herself, amused by the silly thought. But, no matter what might happen, her own power and reign mattered more than any other, and if someone would stand in her way... Well, she was an expert in washing out bloodstains out of clothing.

Eventually, a delivery pigeon flew into her domain, carrying a letter.

"Hmm?... A letter?..." Charlotte deftly took and opened up the letter, reading it over...

 _To the Spider Princess, Charlotte:_

 _Please, I'm begging you. My hive can't last forever against the Canaan Sisters the Alra Priestess hired..._

 _This civil war has gone on for far too long now, and I'm not sure how much longer I can last._

 _I'll even vouch for you the next time you attempt to run for Insect Queen, or whatever conflict you're dealing with, so please, help soon..._

 _Sincerely, t_ _he Queen Bee, Miria_

"A rather quickly written and slightly informal letter..." Charlotte remarked, "But, we all know your vote is worthless compared to mine or Queen Ant's in the Insect Queen election. As such, I'm not wasting time on you..." The Spider Princess promptly crumpled up the note, and threw it away.

The Pigeon just looked dumbly on, waiting for another letter.

"... Go! Before I have you as part of my dinner," Charlotte said, kicking the pigeon off its perch and sending it flying off with one of her kicks. When it finally got the message and flew away out of her cave, Charlotte yawned.

"Mmph... Hopefully when I wake up again, there'll be something new or interesting going on," she quietly said as she began weaving the floor up in thick webbing, before nestling down and drifting off into sleep...

* * *

 _ **...**_

Cassandra idly considered eating the Succubus Village Mayor that was nervously pacing about in her room, but decided against it. It probably wasn't the best idea to do _right_ now... besides, she was here to talk about the foreign invaders, and Cassandra would admit she was interested what the Succubus Mayor had to say about it.

"It's too early... We won't be able to monsterize any women or revive Lilith & Lilim, much less do both, if those foreigners decided to attack us... Lady Cassandra, we have to come up with some sort of defense if we are to survive this threat!" the Succubus implored.

"I see. And why should I help you? I'm more than capable of holding my ground here. The strongest human in that army is about as strong as say... Elizabeth of the Vampire Kingdom? Hardly a threat to someone like me. I will be fine. In truth, this whole meeting is more of you just begging me to host and keep your village intact from the impending invasion," Cassandra said, breaking down the whole situation for what she saw it as.

"Wh-what!? No! It's just that..." the Mayor sighed, "... Well, maybe it is like that..."

"Wrong. It is _exactly_ like that. And, as a strict adherent to 'Survival of the Fittest,' I'm not going to help you. I've no use for you or anyone else in that village, and you can't exactly get Alma Elma to do anything about it. If you want my input that desperately however, here's the only advice I have for you and your village: just throw down your weapons, bend over, and take it. It's not like it's abnormal for succubi to be public whores anyways, so you have no dignity or pride to lose. Did I miss anything else or have I finally gotten the point through your head?" Cassandra said in an emotionless, monotone voice.

The Succubus Mayor tensed up in anger, "Don't you have a heart, Cassandra Nereneid!?"

"Heart? What heart? I lost it a long time ago along with my hopes and dreams when I lost to Alipheese the Fifteenth... As far as I'm concerned, the only interest I have now is survival and the continuation of my line through Emily, and even then, if Emily proves to be incompetent... Well... I'm sure I'll find a new mate to create a new child with someday," Cassandra mused, "Now, begone. I don't feel like wasting all of my time on you, as I have better things to do. Unless you want me to end your miserable existence now that is..."

"Gah..." the Succubus Mayor looked distraught, afraid for the future of Succubus Village, "Fine... Be like that... I hope those armies turn you into their cocksleeve, you bag of fuckmeat..."

Without waiting for a response, the Succubus flew off, leaving Cassandra without a chance to snark or actually attack back.

"... How rude. At least I was more refined and subtle about my insults..." Cassandra said to herself, walking off to check in on Emily and Ran.

* * *

 _ **...**_

In a Citadel, somewhere in the Safina region, the Vampires ruled in an eternal night of roses and blood. Among these Vampires, three were quite prominent. They were the Vampire Queen Fatima, and her lieutenants Elizabeth and Carmilla.

Fatima was fair-skinned, with blonde hair curled into drills. Two small bat-wings came out of her hair, but whether they were organic, decoration, magical, or something else entirely was up for debate. She typically wore complex clothing befitting that of a noble of the night... Even though the only thing covering her womanhood was a simple pair of panties. Her mantle was absolutely enormous in its true size, but she typically constricted it to only fall down past her heels rather than wind up taking up the entire floor.

Carmilla had a similar pale skin like Fatima, though her hair was white, and her batwing-ears were much more dominant and hugged against her head. She wore only her mantle, though it wrapped around and covered her entire body... Except for her breasts, and a heart-shaped gap in the mantle on her stomach area as well. Two white stripes came from her mantle, obscuring her breasts from sight, most of the time.

Elizabeth was quite runty in comparison to Fatima and Carmilla, due to being what most would call a "loli." And, as expected of one, Elizabeth was a practical smooth table compared to Fatima and Carmilla's bust and hip sizes. Yet, almost as if purposefully trying to be jailbait, Elizabeth was dressed in extremely skimpy clothing, with her cloak being more loose and being the only thing covering Elizabeth's chest, or lack of so. The Loli Vampire wore a black ribbon on her neck, and a monocle. Her skin again was similar to Fatima and Carmilla's, though her hair was a faint lavender.

Currently, these three were planning on how to deal with the small army of heavily armored yet astoundingly quick humans marching through the mountains and down into the Safina Region.

"I would expect them to come after us first, however, if my contacts are correct, they simply raze and destroy anything in sight, even other human cities and villages," Fatima spoke in a quiet, smooth voice, swishing either red wine or blood in a glass.

"I would suspect them of being simple-minded barbarians, Lady Fatima," Elizabeth assumed, looking down upon how the humans were once again fighting and exterminating themselves in their own wars.

"Ooh! We could direct them to Sabasa, and have them weaken that kingdom for us, then we can swoop in and take over once they're gone or dead!" Carmilla said, pleased with her own idea.

"That would be a good idea..." Fatima mused from the darkness of her own throne and mantle, "But how to approach them? And how to exploit them for any business opportunities they might offer?"

"I would suggest appearing as a flock of bats, and luring them to Sabasa. As for business with them... I do not see how we can communicate with them peacefully for now, and the Monster Lord may ban trade or contact with them," Elizabeth said, carefully thinking over and making Carmilla's idle idea into an effective plan.

"Possible. Perhaps not effective, but possible. Let's keep our options open, what else?" Fatima said.

"Hmn... Oh! How about we try to split them up between Sphinx and the Pyramid, and Sabasa? Might make it harder to take over Safina though if they can't weaken Sabasa as much..." Carmilla thought aloud again.

"Sphinx is likely our guarantee at safely disposing of these humans... But at the same time, it'd be a waste to just leave such potential unused..." Elizabeth hummed, "I think it's best to lead all of them to Sabasa, but for a third option we could try luring them to the Earth Spirit."

"So we can lead them to Sabasa, the Pyramid, or to Gnome..." Fatima drank a bit of her blood wine, "I would say lead them all to Sabasa. Observe what happens from there. And, on the off-chance that Sabasa is weakened enough, we can take over that city, and finally control all of the Safina region."

Carmilla and Elizabeth nodded, agreeing as that seemed like the best choice for now.

"Very well then... The script is written, the stage is set... Now all we have to do is let the actors play..." Fatima smiled slightly, intrigued to see how this venture would go...

* * *

 _ **...**_

In the Port City of Olympia, on the Legion's Fatherland, the Thirteenth Century finally returned... And most were thanking every War Hero and God they knew that Blitzel Kreig did not rise up from the seas to attack, as well as the fact that most of the Ant Girl and Human corpses were still intact.

Lord Zenith was quick to move from Avalon to Olympia, soon arriving to greet the Thirteenth Century.

"Hail, Thirteenth Century," Zenith raised a hand in greeting, and the legionnaires hailed back, saluting their God. "I assume you all have brought proof of something to have come back here without the other centuries?"

"Indeed, Lord Zenith. Look! This is a monster we encountered frequently during our initial attacks on a new continent. We call these strange women-monsters 'mamono.'" An Ant Girl's body was brought out, and a standard human was brought as well.

"Hmm..." Zenith traced his hand across the dead Ant Girl, "The exoskeleton is hard, but with a few good punches it would break. They're built well in terms of swarming tactics and teamwork, but they appear to be far less annoying and invasive than giant ants and other devastation vermin. They appear like they'd be sentient too, to some degree anyways. And this human... it's... it's so small! This is an adult?" he at first approached the examination logically, even a bit scientifically, but paused in outright shock when he moved onto the human corpse.

"Indeed it is my Lord. It's a human. We confirmed it's an adult, as their children are even smaller."

"B-but... I'd be at _least_ several heads taller than this one! This cannot be. You all must've attack a city of runts or inbred humans. They can't possibly be this small, and their muscles are so underdeveloped as well... Even a lazy teenage legionnaire would be able to break this man's spine if the teenager hugged tightly enough. And the armor..." Zenith visibly recoiled, probably in horror, at how fragile and poorly made the armor was compared to the standard legionnaire's set of armor.

"Th-this is blasphemy... What kind of 'man...'" Zenith noted the other human bodies, "... 'men,' are _these_!? This isn't going to be a war... It's going to be sport!"

"Who knows, my Lord. We of the Thirteenth Century were ordered to leave with this proof to inform you as soon as possible after we conquered the first city. Who knows? There may yet be even greater foes than Ymir himself in that other land, and we just haven't found out yet. Perhaps the mythical beast Apollyon lurks there? We do not know."

"... I see. Rest up, men, and prepare. We set sail back to that new land tomorrow, with _me_. I shall show these... other, 'humans,' what a true warrior and knight looks like!"

* * *

Author's Notes:

Well, I'm back. Not dead yet! Hope you all like this new chapter, and do make sure to leave your advice, input, thoughts, and suggestions in a review or PM!

Now, for some reviews to answer...

Fleece Johnson: You are right, there are 13 Centuries sent in total, with 1 sent back to Olympia, and another kept to safeguard the conquered port city and signal to other legion ships. Typically, a Legion is just a particularly large army led by a Legionnaire of at least Centurion rank or higher. I don't believe I have given the number for how many men are in a Century, but I will say that right about now, it's about 5,000 each, though it varies depending on the century's specialization. Some centuries only have a 100, because they specialize in training other legionnaires or sailing a scouting ship. Some Centuries might even possess more than 10,000, usually because of how old the century is or because it's meant for intense/infantry-heavy warfare. They are pretty confident at this point, not being aware that their Centurion Archon is only about as strong as Elizabeth. I will definitely have to establish the new characters' powers and strength, whether through environmental damage or taking on certain MGQ Characters, it'll likely vary. I am glad to hear that Zenith's power was shown in his battle against Ymir and his kin, though I will admit the three giants haven't played their full role in the story, and are far stronger than they appear to be. I can say safely that a Heavenly Knight would not interfere until Alice says so or they are directly attacked or challenged by a Legionnaire. Cassandra's already answered Alma not being there, whether it due to sea patrol or just not caring. Perhaps I'll do that reference sometime... And yeah, unless the more important or deified Legionnaires get involved, a Heavenly Knight won't have too much difficulty against the standard legion. And thank you! I am glad to see that I'm doing well with fleshing out Cassandra and Spider Princess as more than just simple evil monsters with a bit of backstory for Luka to beat down. I will be bringing the named monster girls into contact with the legion in due time... As for Grangold King, well, I didn't really think I'd expand on him that much, but then I figured even he wouldn't be ignorant as to what's going on in his nation, and as with Queen Ant in canon, he does genuinely care for the people and wants to do the right thing. And yes! I've done well with grammar so far, and I intend to keep doing so!... Because I personally can't stand having an error or wrong word in my works. Reviews definitely are a booster to my moral and will to keep on writing, and it's nice that you made an account to try and help inspire authors!

Guest: As much as many people hate the OVA, yes, I will toy around and think about the idea of including it in somehow. After all, there's so much potential in Minagi, despite her status as the slut even among the ancestors, being a dream demon of sorts while still imprisoned and the fact that the Legion is butchering most monsters and humans is going to have an impact on the seal binding Primal Alice and the Ancestors somehow.

And so, without further ado, I bid you all a good day!


	5. Duel Between a Nereneid and a Centurion

_**...**_

Julius paced about in an empty battlefield, his armor glistening with sweat and blood. The situation was worsening for the Legion by the week. One of the other great warheroes of the Legion, Gilgamesh, died taking down most of the invading monsters, but the ancient dragons of Dragon's Peak and the gorgons of the Acropolis were still around, ready to take over in place of the orcs' failures. And then Ymir was still bringing about an eternal winter, now heading towards the southern tip of the continent... Farms there would be destroyed, and supplies sent overseas would likely be devoured by Blitzel Kreig.

"Think Julius, think... What can I do to drive them away?..." Julius mused, looking over a fallen soldier's body. How pitiable the corpse was...

"Et tu, Brute?" he said quietly, kneeling down to close his fallen comrade's eyes, "To think that you too, would fall... At least you died as you wished— For the good of the people. An honorable man to the very end... Such honor, valor, and pride in the Legion... It'd be something that even I'd strive to attain."

Julius tilted his head slightly, looking at the wound that presumably killed Brutus. It appeared to be a fault on the armor's part; he saw a rusted spot in a rather thin part of the armor, namely the part of the armor covering Brutus' guts. Maybe that was why the Legion was still struggling to defeat the monsters... While the monsters could evolved and grow thicker hides and sharper claws, the Legion's soldiers still had the same thin armor, shortswords, and bucklers their forefathers started out with.

"That's it... We need thicker armor, more weapons, more... variety. We need to expand our horizons..." Julius mused, "But how?..."

He turned, and noted a strange womanlike creature... It emanated a red aura, and hid itself in the darkness...

 _"I could help you, Julius Zenith, General of the Legion..."_ the woman whispered.

"Now who... Are you?" Julius said, curious, but not afraid.

 _"I am known by many names... Apoptosis... Abomination... Spawn of Chaos... But you, you may call me Apollyon..."_

* * *

 _ **...**_

In the present day, deep into depths of Death Mountain, a gigantic monster wandered and prowled about, seeking out any prey it could find.

This creature called itself Typhon, though like many monsters, it hadn't actually told anyone about it, nor had the language skills or patience to tell anyone it.

Its lower half was covered in layers and layers of bristly and urticating hairs, giving it the impression of fur. A large tail, nearly twice its size, quietly swayed around behind it, acting as a lure for any foolish small monsters or animals thinking it was a snake of some sort. Its legs were digitgrade, with its three toes ending in sharp talons making a quiet clacking against the stone floors. Its upper half was like an extremely muscular humanoid, though part of its torso, neck, and arms were covered in scales. Its chest and abdominal area weren't covered with scales, instead having exposed tissues and scars from previous run-ins with Legionnaires and other hostile monsters. The head of the beast was vaguely dragonlike, with a long, boarish snout and countless rows of jagged fangs. On it head were a pair of ram's horns curling around its head, and above them, a pair of bull horns. Jutting out of its mouth were long, sharpened tusks. Its eyes were like giant moons, with a pinprick pupil in each one.

It was currently creeping on the ceilings, darting from crevice to crevice despite its huge size. It smelled that humans were not too far from it... From the scent of cloth and potions, it assumed them to be mages, with maybe about three males and two females. No knights, judging from the lack of metallic scraps or shiny objects in the darkness.

It knew this wasn't natural, and highly suspected it to be a trap.

But... It couldn't really help itself, and quietly crawled nearer and nearer, until it was right at the entrance of a particularly giant chasm. It knew this to be the graves of Ymir and his brethren, but why were the humans back here again? The bodies had long since either been left alone like Ymir, or devoured by monsters as what happened to Grendal and Jotun's bodies. It couldn't help but admit that it would understand if the humans came here to have attempted to try nipping or taking a sample of the corpses themselves... Jotun's blood and essence in particular was a major reason why it had evolved into such a massive form so quickly despite not being one of the elder monsters.

Its batlike ears twitched slightly, listening in closely to the mages...

"... No traces of Grendal or Jotun. Presumably dead and devoured by lesser monsters," a female mage monotoned, writing quickly in a book.

"Yet Ymir itself is left untouched... Why? What is it about Ymir that makes it so much more important than his own brothers?" the most dangerous-looking mage of the group, one that seemed to be decorated with ceremonial robes and a strange trident of some kind, quietly approached Ymir, but stopped suddenly, shivering and stepping away, "Its body... It's still abnormally cold, even in death. It would be like wading into a blizzard right next to Ymir, even with warm clothing and counters to ice magic..."

"It would likely be due to that freezing temperature that the other lesser monsters don't approach Ymir," a young, rather rookie-looking mage theorized, with the other mages concurring.

Typhon looked dumbly on, not understanding a single word these humans said. It could generally tell though that if it killed the head mage first, it could feast on the other two males, and breed with the females, and then eat them anyways. But how to do that?... It wasn't patient enough to wait for the humans to come into the narrow hallways, and there wasn't a ceiling it could take advantage of in the chasm...

... Then, it came up with a small idea to take the rookie mage out, and quickly darted into a pile of rocks in a corner of the chasm.

The mages kept on researching and excavating the area, humming in curiosity and interest, as well as gratitude to their Glorious God, Zenith... They didn't think a fearless, almighty warrior such as him would be fond of the idea of expanding the Legion's expertise in science and recreation outside of war, and were quite thankful for it. Though, they admitted, his deal with wanting to honor the dead corpses of Ymir and his kin were... odd, at best. Why should they respect a monster, a dead one at that? One that slaughtered and murdered millions of humans over its long existence?

But, they gave in, and decided not to tamper with Ymir's corpse. It wasn't like they could anyways, for they knew that even in death, Ymir's body could easily freeze another giant solid, much less a human... And his brothers' corpses were just long gone.

The young mage noted something out of the corner of his eye as the other mages talked and chatted. It seemed to be... a snake? A snake with some kind of fur... Or a really fuzzy worm or giant caterpillar.

Curious, the boy went closer, trying to prod at it with his staff, but it slithered into the cracks of the rocks faster than he could poke it. Annoyed, the boy knelt down, and began tossing rocks aside, looking for the strange creature...

He never did or saw anything again. Typhon's giant maw quickly came out and snapped down on his body, dragging his squirming corpse into the darkness, with none the wiser.

Fairly soon, Typhon tossed the remainders of the corpse aside for lesser monsters to scavenge, and looked to take out the next mage... Now how could he take out the dangerous-looking mage?... The other mages, judging from the rookie it just ate, were weak enough to the point where its hide could shrug off any spells they tried casting on it. But that leading mage... It didn't want to tangle with that one on even grounds. It would rather just bash his head open with a rock, rather than...

Wait. Bash his head open with a rock... And it had urticating hairs...

Typhon vanished again, once again at one with the darkness...

The Leading Mage kept lecturing his lesser peers, reminding them of various bits and pieces of what little they knew of Ymir's life in case one of them could come up with a theory or explanation for Ymir's abnormal power.

He didn't notice the strange, scattered glints in the air, and if he did, he just thought it to be idle dust and ashes from the chasm.

Which is why he was shocked when he started feeling quite itchy and irritated, and that scratching it didn't help at all. If anything, it made it worse!

"Um... Sir, are you alright?" a particularly innocent girl questioned, feeling concerned.

"Y-yeah, don't worry... I don't get it, there was dust in the air already, why am I suddenly—"

The distracted mage never finished, as his head was replaced by a fountain of blood, before his body crumpled onto the floor, and his trident clanked near his bloodied corpse.

The remaining mages screamed, startled, and in defensive positions.

Typhon howled, suddenly dropping into the floor in a loud crash and charging at them.

"Defensive maneuvers!" one of female mages shouted, retaining her discipline in spite of the unfavorable circumstances and gigantic beast barreling at them.

The last male grit his teeth, raising a barrier, but it was promptly shattered by Typhon's charge, and the other mage's fireballs and explosions appeared to merely fade into nothing against the creature's hide.

Typhon gored the male on his tusk, and pinned the formerly bubbly and cheery female down, feeling something snap along with a shrill scream, but thought nothing of it. It did the same thing to many other lesser monsters all the time and they didn't die.

Wrapping up the oddly limp female in its tail, it turned its attention to the final mage.

"N-no... damn it, we should've been more cautious and brought reinforcements..." she muttered, stepping away from the beast in hesitation and fright.

Typhon slowly advanced, growling lightly as it clacked its claws and talons on the ground, taking its sweet time advancing onto her.

She shivered in disgust as to what could happen next, but an idea clicked in her head, and she began chanting a spell quite rapidly, much to the amusement of Typhon.

That amusement vanished almost immediately after it was blinded by an unbearable flash of light.

Rubbing its eyes out, Typhon bellowed, and turned, looking for the fleeing mage, only to find... nothing. No trace of her other than her residual scent...

Well, that was fine, it still had that other girl—

It then finally realized that the girl was dead because of how unlively and limp she was in his tail.

It then proceeded to throw a temper tantrum that shook the entirety of Death Mountain, furious at how delicate these humans could be at the worst of times, yet so unbearingly tough and hard to crush at the best time to die, before it finally gave one last hiss of discontentment and just ate the bodies of the mages.

After finishing off the last bits of the mages, Typhon looked curiously at the Trident leftover from the head mage. It seemed to radiate with power...

Captivated by the shiny weapon, the lumbering beast crawled to it, and grabbed it by the hilt, admiring the strange, almost mystical object...

It never expected the trident to begin glowing and shaking in a fury, before another flash of light blinded the creature and caused it to stumble and crash down.

When it finally got back up, it felt... different... something was off...

 _... What happened to me?_ it thought deeply for once in its formerly savage and bestial life.

* * *

 _ **...**_

Lord Zenith paced back and forth, impatiently waiting on the rest of the Thirteenth Century to hurry up and finish getting into the galleon. He _really_ wanted to hurry up and get to this new continent...

Luzbel soon walked up besides him, "Lord Zenith."

"Warlord Luzbel," Zenith acknowledged in turn, "What is it?"

"I was merely curious if I myself can accompany you to this new land. I will leave Centurion R. Emus to monitor my Centuries, as well as to lead the charge against the remaining monsters in Death Mountain," Luzbel requested, fully expecting to be denied.

"... Centurion Romulus Emus was the volunteer for Vaal's experiment, right?" Zenith mused, to which Luzbel nodded, "... Well, it should take a while for Vaal to be ready to perform his experiments, and Caligula still retains authority regardless due to your absence."

"Indeed. I too, desire to whip off the dust coating my sword and experience the glories of war once more..." Luzbel said.

"Heh... Well, who am I to deny a warrior their right to battle? Come Luzbel. You'll act as my Optio in this campaign until further notice. Now, let's get going. I can sense the Thirteenth Century losing their patience..." Zenith said, seeing no issue with Luzbel coming along as he boarded the galleon.

"Understood my Lord. Thank you for this grant..." Luzbel humbly thanked, but then panicked when Zenith didn't even notice his attempts at thanks and ran off to get on board before the galleon was too far out into the seas...

Far out into the unending seas, Zenith took deep breaths, relishing the salty airs of the ocean. It was a pleasant change from the gaudy and boring halls of Avalon he had spent so many years sitting around in, waiting for a worthy challenge...

 _To explore again... Sometimes I wished I became a scout or adventurer rather than accept becoming the Lord of the Legion,_ Zenith mused sadly in his thoughts. He would've rather have fought and died in honor on the frontlines or frontier long ago when the basic monster could still be considered an equal to him, than to have lived to where he was now.

 _Well... I suppose all those years of bearing with the politics and boredom finally paid off... Now I can be a true warrior and conqueror once more!_ Zenith soon brought himself out of his regrets, and instead focused on the present and future, namely by using the telescope to observe far off rock formations or other landmarks and drawing them out to make a map of the seas for future reference, as well as planning where to go first when he got to this new land.

The galleon kept on sailing through the beautiful and peaceful ocean, until something strange happened...

The sun was blotted out by stormy clouds, and harsh winds began to rip and lash the galleon bit by bit, even tearing the stainless steel plating off.

And below... an unspeakably massive abomination began to surface, with gigantic tentacles as thick as trees and as many as a forest wrapping itself around the galleon.

 _"IT'S BLITZEL KRIEG!"_ a legionnaire shouted in panic, attempting to get away from the rims of the galleon, only to fall overboard into the creature's maw...

"All Legionnaires, assume defensive positions! Man the cannons! Magicians, electrocute the water! Archers, employ explosive arrows! Aim for the eyes!" Zenith calmly shouted, shaking his head every now and then to try and get a clear view without the heavy sheets of rain battering his visor.

Only a few legionnaires were able to get below deck to fire and bombard the sea monster with cannon fire, though to no avail.

The abomination let out a horrible, groaning noise, as if it was metal slowly creaking and scratching against the floors. The masses of tentacles began to coil around and constrict against the ship, as if it was trying to either snap the entire thing in half or drag it down into the depths and drown everyone.

Luzbel growled, shoving past several legionnaires and carelessly staring overboard, then looked back up and simply shouted, "It's eyes are at the right side of the ship! Aim for the waters to our right!"

Several legionnaires nervously nodded, aiming the cannons to shoot there. Some cannonballs just sank into the abyssal waters below, though a few did managed to hit... _something_ , as a sickening pus-like goop splattered and contaminated the waters where a cannonball hit.

"We're going to die if we keep this up..." Zenith muttered, then noticed a mage, "You! There!"

The Mage shivered, pointing at himself, "M-me?..."

"Yes, you!" Zenith said, "Cast a waterbreathing spell on me, as well as make my armor light-weight!"

"I-I could do that, but why?..." the Mage nervously said.

"Don't ask, just do it!"

"O-of course my Lord!" the Mage slowly chanted a spell, and soon Zenith felt a strange feeling in his throat, as well as feeling much, _much_ lighter than usual.

"Good... Do the same to Luzbel. He will understand."

"O-okay..." the Mage slipped into the hordes of legionnaires.

Zenith took in a deep breath as he approached the right rim of the ship. This was a really, _really_ fucking stupid idea...

... But considering what ancient warheroes had done, and his own fairly hopeless and disorderly situation right now, he couldn't let self-preservation or logic take over. Besides, he knew how to swim. More than the average legionnaire anyways...

He jumped overboard, diving into the depths of the ocean where Blitzel Krieg was lurking...

Zenith deftly swam further down, though it didn't take long for him to find Blitzel Krieg.

The creature's main mantle easily stretched on for miles, with countless tentacles attached like a forest rooted to the ground. There were some craters in the abominable creature's mantle, most likely from the cannonballs that managed to actually harm the creature. And, in other places, there were large bumps; the creature's many eyes.

Zenith took his chance swiftly, and took out his sword and mace, swimming to pierce and bludgeon some of the eyes while avoiding smaller, more man-sized tentacles the creature moved to restrain him.

In practice, this was actually easier than he thought it would be. Except for the minor fact that the spells the mage casted on him might wear off...

Zenith began to swim much faster, though he began to notice a sharp current dragging him from his position to the creature's maw...

Though, a smaller, more spiky-armored man soon dived straight into the swirling seas, and pierced another of the sea creature's many eyes, causing it to stop breathing in the currents.

Luzbel simply gave a curt nod to Zenith, and Zenith returned the gesture, before the two began to swim and pierce the creature's eyes, with Zenith awkwardly or brute-forcing the tentacles out of the way or ripping them off outright due to his spell beginning to wear off, while Luzbel was more smooth, expertly weaving and dodging the tentacles.

The two should've been, and in terms of size were quite literally nothing but ticks to Blitzel Kreig, yet after a while, the creature groaned and spasmed, before falling limp and slowly sinking down to the depths below...

Zenith and Luzbel wasted no time in getting up to the surface to climb back aboard, and instead of brag or boast of their achievement, they settled for coughing up absurd amounts of saltwater as the clouds finally cleared up and the seas eased into tranquility once more...

"Ugh... We're going to have to deal with that _thing_ again when we sail back I'm sure..." Zenith muttered, wringing water from his cloaks and drying his armor off.

"Let's look on the bright side... We're alive, and Blitzel Kreig is down and out for now," Luzbel remarked, being extra-cautious to not accidently rip a towel or cloth while he dried his armor, "And since our armor is immune to rusting and other effects like that... We won't have much to worry about. To think we'd take out Blitzel Kreig with only us and a single galleon though... Usually it takes about 20 or so to bring it down."

"Well, that's because nobody wants to take a swimming lesson with that thing down there. We too would've died if you and I weren't brave enough to attack the abomination's eyes directly ourselves," Zenith said, starting to redirect and instill order back into the various survivors and legionnaires once more.

"That in itself is an accomplishment no one has ever done before. Even if Blitzel Kreig returns back from the abyssal depths, which it probably will considering how long we've had to deal with it, the fact will still remain that you and I took it down together, while most the legionnaires here were either panicking or trying to keep the galleon afloat."

Zenith chuckled, "I suppose that is true, my friend. We'll have to think about it later on. For now... Let's just keep on sailing to the new land."

"Aye aye, Lord Zenith," Luzbel joked, laughing alongside Zenith as the galleon began to sail off once more...

* * *

 _ **...**_

Emily ran off to Cassandra, "M-Mother... Those Knights are here... Emily's scared... We should run."

Cassandra smiled softly, "Admitting you're scared of a bunch of humans... I'd normally think of you as a failure for that, but considering the circumstances... I suppose it's understandable. If not for me, you probably would've been far away by now."

"Emily would be in Hellgondo or Ilias Continents by now!" Emily said, "If it's survival of the fittest, Emily would be much better off somewhere where there isn't an army of super-humans killing everything in sight! Emily hasn't even heard from one of her friends since their town got attacked... Besides, intelligence is important, right? Emily isn't too good with numbers, but common sense should be a part of it."

The Amoeba would've sighed, but she saw the logic in her daughter's words. "If you went to a place with such easy prey, where there's usually only one consistent type... Then you'd become lax, lazy, and focused solely on how to kill that one prey-type. That's why I keep you here in Sentora, instead of sending you overboard to other nobility and schools to learn, because there's a wide variety of prey here... That and most Queens aren't as carnivorous as we are. At best I might've gotten the Spider Princess to teach you, and while she is a good friend... I don't trust her to not eat you. And the other option, Erubetie wouldn't be too fond of any non-slime types I sent her way, plus the fact you're a scylla so you wouldn't learn anything... Maybe Queen Mermaid would've taught you?..."

"Uhm... Mother?... You're getting too caught up in your memories..." Emily observed. It seemed to be a habit of Cassandra to go into tangents when she wasn't busy with paperwork or something else... Probably because she was much older than most monsters.

"... Oh! So I was. It just pays to show how much I care about this pathetic group of humans then," Cassandra tittered, "I can sense them now... My, their leader is impressive! He's almost as strong as Yao! Definitely strong enough to take on the lower echelons of nobility... Unfortunately, the Nereneids aren't anything like that. I have more than enough power and stamina to stretch my flesh on for miles... There will be no escape for them. I only need them to attack first, and then Alice won't be able to say anything about the massacre that happens after."

"Yeah! Emily will cheer you on, Mother!" the scylla said, "It'll be good practice for me to become a superstar!"

Cassandra frowned for a few fleeting moments, before she forced on a smile. She sometimes forgot her daughter had a certain flaw that made Cassandra wish she hadn't killed her mate so long ago; Emily had absolutely no desires for the Monster Lord's Crown. Instead, she wanted to be a singer, or an idol, or whatever the term was for those "singer-celebrity" monsters... It would be fine if she had only had mediocre potential. But she was so young, yet was already at a point where most lower-class and even noble class monsters peak at in terms of power... And it wouldn't be like Alice XVI could find any half-angels or freakish male version of a monster to massively boost her bloodline's diluted potential again.

Yet, Ran seemed to support Emily in all of that. The maid even had the audacity to ask Cassandra to call it quits and let the Nereneids' right to the throne go, to let Emily become... become some sort of mockery of the oldest and enduring bloodlines in the history of monsterkind! If it weren't for the fact Cassandra knew Ran from so many years ago, and the fact that Ran was merely concerned with Emily's future, Cassandra would've killed her on the spot.

 _... Yet... I'd be letting my daughter take the same risk I did... and possibly fail, just like I did..._ Doubtful thoughts clouded her mind for a moment, but she suppressed it. The Nereneids may lose the battle again and again to the Fateburns, but they will win the war one day... or, at least that's what she told herself.

She refocused on the task at hand, with Emily reporting about the Knights arriving.

"You said the foreigners were here, right?" Cassandra said, to which Emily nodded, "Where were they?"

"Emily will show you, Mother!" Emily said, quickly running off, while Cassandra simply took her time.

 _ **...**_

The Centuries wouldn't lie. They were tired. _Very_ tired. Which, would be fine... If not for the fact that literally nothing was happening. There weren't any mamono attacks, and besides the frontier villages and occasional city, they didn't encounter any of the local humans.

"We've been marching in the heat for three days straight!"

"Our rations are running low! We need to stop and scavenge!"

"The march on Acropolis was less damn boring than this shit!"

"We've had nothing but the locals' shit food and our stale bread for the last five raids!"

"We should've enchanted our armor with heat-resistance..."

"Where's the next monster-slut? My blade's covered in more dirt and grime than it is with blood!"

Centurion Archon, who was leading the run at the front, distinctly felt a rather large vein pulsate and violently beat as he had to keep listening, and listening, and listening to the constant complaints of these poor conditions without any fights or events.

 _"FOR CAESAR'S SAKE SHUT THE HELL UP!"_ Archon shouted, suddenly stopping the march, "Fine! We'll rest here for an hour, no more!"

The legionnaires sighed in relief, discontinuing their formations and moving to ease and relax so when the next march started, it'd be more bearable.

Archon grunted, shaking his head in disappointment. He knew that, to get further up the ranks of the Legion he had to either go into politics and religion to become a Prefect, or to actually succeed in taking over a foreign or hostile territory, which would allow him to be promoted to a Conqueror instead. Then, by the time he got to either position, it was all a matter of pulling off heroic or godly deeds to become a "Legendary" and do even more after that, he'd become a true deity among his people like Lord Zenith and Caligula.

But to think it'd be so easy taking over this land... It felt like he was cheating. Even worse than becoming a Prefect like the Flatter—, Flavius, which was quite literally like sitting on your ass all day and debating over pointless things with other weaklings.

About 30 minutes passed, and a scout returned to Archon, appearing to be disappointed.

"Report," Archon said curtly.

"There's a village not too far from here. However, there are no guards, and the population is... ten at worst, thirty at best. Far below the usual 130-200 people we spot in a frontier village with armed and trained guards with the occasional mage."

Archon imitated a sailor under his breath, "Not even a single strong warrior in that village?"

"There are a few powerful civilians, but we note that the person who looks like the leader is much, much stronger than everyone else. Perhaps more than a match for even you, Centurion."

"Oooh... Now you've got my blood rushing... A being stronger than me for once in this pathetic land? I'm too curious and excited to even care about the thought of death... The village itself may have no strategic value considering the lands we've taken, and the people may all be worthless in terms of glory and power, but I do like the thought of at least dueling their leader..." Archon smirked, getting up, "And if I die, the Centuries are to simply pull back to the conquered port city and await a new Centurion or for Optio Agrenor to return."

"Understood Centurion. I advise letting the others rest for now, but to keep a small group of knights to keep the rabble down if the villagers get too foolish. Shall I guide you there now?" the scout asked, standing at attention.

Archon nodded, and called a few knights to accompany him while shouting out that the break had been extended to last until his return, to which many legionnaires sighed in relief for.

 _ **...**_

"We're almost there Mother! We're almost there!" Emily squealed in a childish excitement as the two Nereneids drew closer and closer to where the knights supposedly were. Having the comfort and power of her mother to keep all the brutish humans from having their way or otherwise humiliating or killing her made Emily a lot more arrogant and sure of herself.

"Yes, yes... We'd better get there soon. I'm starting to wonder if there even _is_ a foreign nation invading Sentora, or if it's just Alice pulling one over me with you, that succubus, the Mayor of Succubus Village, and all the others somehow in on it. The second one would honestly make more sense considering the lack of evidence I've seen so far..." Cassandra mused.

Her doubts were quickly dashed when she and Emily encountered a small group of knights appearing to scout and explore the area. They weren't exactly giants, but they were fairly tall, being around a few feet taller than ordinary humans. They were completely covered from head to toe with armor made from an unknown metal, with some flexible areas such as the armpits and knees having a strange chainmail that looked like dragonscales cover them. The armor appeared to even have multiple layers, with various plates and segments being added below or onto the armor for extra protection, with the occasional spike or sharpened edge. Their helmets completely concealed their faces, with only a narrow slit giving them sight. It seemed they were quite accustomed to limited vision however, as they scaled the rocky terrain with little difficulty. It was a wonder these men could even move under what appeared to be a crushing amount of weight.

Their weapon... well, weapons, spared no expenses either. They all had at least some sort of massive bastard sword, though the blade was significantly thicker, with a proportionate hilt, handle, and pommel. They also possessed a pack of bolts on their waist, with a steel spear and a crossbow fastened to their backs. All except for one, lightly-armored knight carried around a large, rectangular shield.

Their colorations were strange. Most of the knights' armor were a silver-white color, though one knight with less armor and segments was a greenish-brown color. And then there was one whose helm possessed two jackal-like horns on top of it, with his armor's color being a golden-black and a few hides and skins decorating his shoulders and neck.

All in all, they looked like walking tanks. Except they were fast. Very fast.

But, what Cassandra noticed was that the dragonscales didn't appear to resemble any species she knew. Dragon, Dragonkin, Sea Dragon, Leviathan, Wyvern, hell, even that one weird monster Kyoryuu didn't carry any resemblance to it. And their scents... it was bizarre. If not for their obviously male voices and a few survivors' testimonies and accounts, she would've thought these were some sort of new being rather than a human.

They soon noticed the two monsters, and immediately got into the defensive, with the knight clad in golden armor looking at the green knight and pointing his finger at Cassandra, _"That's the leader of the village you were talking about, right?"_ the golden knight spoke in an unrecognizable, guttural and grating voice. It didn't feel pleasant to her ears at first, to say the least.

 _"Yeah, that's her. Why is she out here?"_ the green knight mused, _"... I see a little yellow squid back there. Appears to be a child. Probably played around and saw us, then immediately ran home crying for mom... And the big red one's probably just that."_

The golden knight nodded, _"It'll be fine. Now then..."_ the knight began to approach Cassandra, and drew his sword, _"I didn't expect to see you here and you probably didn't expect me either. So I'll give you time to prepare. Meet me at the hill when you are ready,"_ he turned sharply to the distant hills, and pointed his sword there, and then pointed his finger at Cassandra, and then pointed at himself. Sheathing his sword, the knight walked off to the hills with the others, leaving a very confused Cassandra and Emily standing around wondering what the hell they just said.

"Mother... Emily didn't understand what they said... Was Emily supposed to learn another language?" Emily said, hesitant she fell behind in her (forced) studies again.

"I don't know either Emily... And they can't be speaking some degenerate or secret language, as they acted like it was completely normal and that we should be able to more or less understand it. From his basic signing though, I can infer that he wants to meet at those hills... and he probably wants to fight me there," Cassandra guessed.

"Are you going to go there now?" Emily questioned.

"Well, of course I am. I didn't come here just to prepare and stall right now. I'll put an end to this little game myself this instant..." Cassandra stated, going off to the hills where the knights traveled off to.

Emily quickly followed, eager to see the inevitable slaughter that'd happen...

 _ **...**_

Cassandra soon arrived, looking at the golden knight. She sensed this was the strongest one, and judging from various "trophies" and hides he had on him, probably a veteran or the leader of the knights.

Archon turned, hearing Cassandra approach.

 _"So, you've arrived,"_ he spoke, _"I assume you're ready?"_

"... I don't understand who you are, or why you're here, but please, do satisfy my curiosity and tell me why you've practically the stained the entire west side of the Gold region in blood. Not that I disapprove, not at all, but I'm quite curious nonetheless," to Cassandra, she spoke in a normal, civil tone. To Archon and the Knights, it sounded like an awful, high-pitched voice, like a Siren's scream or something, with a severe lack of punctuation or emphasis on words, making it all seem like a jumbled, slurred mess.

Archon calmly chose to draw his sword and raise his shield, realizing that despite the obvious intelligence and sentience this woman showed, there was just no way he could hold up a long conversation without losing his patience.

 _"I'll assume you are ready. Come! Let us stir up the dust!"_ Archon said, slashing his sword for extra emphasis and drawing closer to Cassandra in a stance as the other knights backed away and watched.

"A duel?... Is that what you want?" Cassandra mused in confusion, before finally guessing that must've been what he was asking for. "Heh... Alright. I'll humor you..."

Cassandra's dress began to melt from a crimson dress to a mass of pinkish-red flesh and muscle, with her formerly exposed forearms and hands beings wrapped up in crimson slime. A certain hole was also apparently just exposed not far down her waist...

Archon looked on in confusion, _Is she some sort of slime? She doesn't look like she has a core, and she appears to be made out of flesh... She's definitely not a necrotic creation either, as she's certainly alive. Must be a new species of slime only seen in these "Mamono" creatures. Maybe that human part of her is some sort of "lure" meant to draw in or deceive her prey like doppelgangers and mimics? Only one way to find out!..._

He slashed his greatsword around once more, issuing a warcry as he charged.

"Foolish man..." Cassandra's flesh spread, covering the floor and soon stopping the knight in his tracks as the tissues began pulling him down and coiling around his boots.

Archon had some experience with these sort of monsters back in the Legion's homeland. Some monsters from the Necropolis, commonly called "Blood Elementals" commonly used organic means of attack, like how a slime would but smarter... More or less.

The only difference here was that the woman wasn't a cunning elemental or dumb slimeball. She was a thinking being that was probably just as smart as he was, maybe even smarter if he was unlucky, and much stronger than him at that.

But such beings was exactly what all Legionnaires lusted to find and fight. And Archon was no different, using his quick thinking to simply stab the ground and begin twisting, forcing the flesh loose and allowing him to heave his boots up and rush at her once more.

Cassandra was moderately surprised. Not many human warriors could come back from that tactic. But, she supposed someone as strong as him would take more than a simple trick to put down. She thought of a new tactic, and willed several slits to open in the flesh wriggling and writhing on the floor, spraying acids all over Archon, only for a few of the hides to begin curling up and steaming. Annoyed, she simply made the acids stronger, but they seemed to harm the hides and cause some slight steaming from the armor, nothing more.

By now, Cassandra was extremely confused and very pissed off. She'd continue using her acid at an even stronger level, but that carried the possibility it landing on her and harming her instead. It seemed whatever metal or steel this armor was made from was far stronger or well-crafted than anything she saw or fought against before... And it was likely she had to either just brute force him down or find an opening in all of that armor to slip her tissues in and melt him from the inside out.

Archon grunted. He admitted, the strange green liquids the flesh spurted all over him was definitely heating up the armor to an extremely uncomfortable level, and if not for the Legion's metalwork and adapting to acidic and corrosive monsters, he would probably be melted into a puddle along with rusty fragments. He'd have to end this quick or find a way to cool the armor down, otherwise the sheer heat might become too much for him...

He soon finally got near the woman, and slashed down, the blade sinking deep into Cassandra's flesh...

Only to be slowly absorbed into her.

"Fufufu... Did you really think I'd be so helpless?" Cassandra could barely hold her laughter back, and idly decided to "taste" the blade to see what kind of monsters the man had killed. He didn't seem like the type to clean his blade effectively, and it showed. She could sample small, minute traces of Human, Medusa, Dullahan, Ant, Mantis, and Scylla blood still leftover on the blade... And...

... _What_ was that? It tasted strange, yet very delectable, like a noble monster! It was like... Like some sort of... Cassandra couldn't really put it into words. It was like another monster, yet not at the same time. More...animalistic. Bestial. And above all else, extremely rich in raw darkness and variety... Even a trace of it made her feel... different. As if some sort of primal instinct or gene long sealed away into her modern diluted DNA was being brought out and awakened by this...

 _This... This is too good to pass up on... I want more of it... I **need** more of it. I could become stronger than even Alice VIII herself if I killed and devoured enough of these creatures... I need to find more of them, devour more of them... _Cassandra muttered, _And he... He'll be my link to that place, I'll force him to guide me there if I have to... The sheer power that I could gain from these creatures... But how to speak his language?..._

"Hold on," she simply said, raising her hand, "Let me ask you a few questions and perhaps offer you a proposal..."

Archon tilted his head in confusion, but shrugged and drew out his spear, quickly moving to impale Cassandra's head with it.

Without even thinking, Cassandra's head tilted ever so slight out of the spear's way, to the point where she could even see the speartip pass by in the corner of her eye.

 _I couldn't have reacted that fast before... Those strange creatures' blood... They're improving me much more than a normal human or knight-level monster ever could..._ Cassandra simply giggled quietly to herself, the flesh on her shoulder quickly pinning the spear safely into her body, and not a second later, she grabbed the man by his arm, easily lifting him up, armor and all. "Now what will you try to do, human?..." she said teasingly, mocking him with her smirk.

 _"Mistake number one. You only grabbed one arm,"_ the man spoke in his bizarre language again, before his other arm promptly drew his knife. He attempted to stab down into her chest, but Cassandra simply leaned back, expecting him to miss entirely.

That would be mistake number two, as he was more than willing to hurt himself a bit to get a major advantage, and thus wound up twisting his bound arm and flipped around to get closer to stab her closer, lower body, and, well...

Let's just say that if Cassandra was an ordinary human woman, she wouldn't be having anymore kids.

Like any other normal person, Cassandra immediately let go of the man and fell, emitting a rather high-pitched and pitiful sound as she tried, and failed, to get over the pain.

The knights watching wondered what happened. Wasn't the woman-part of her just some disguise or lure? Why would attacks towards the strange mouth towards the bottom of her body be so painful to her?

Emily, who had been watching and cheering Cassandra on with her own songs and words of encouragement, slowly trailed off. She somehow suddenly felt a distinct feeling she probably wouldn't have any sisters anytime soon for whatever reason.

 _"... Ow... Something's definitely aching..."_ Archon grunted, getting back up and feeling his gauntlet. It seemed that the woman made a few large dents into it, despite the alloy and thickness of it... Had it not been for his stab at an apparently very sensitive spot, he probably would've eventually died from either sheer heat, or the woman's brute force. _"Seems like the slimes of this world are majorly harmed by attacks to their true mouths, instead of aiming for their human lures. Good to know."_

Archon walked to the currently fallen Cassandra, _"You fought well... But you let your guard down. As such, you will fall today."_

Cassandra simply looked up at him, and lost her patience, immediately transforming her flesh dress into a long... leg? Arm? Something, that promptly shot out and uppercutted Archon into the air, and sent him crashing down the hill.

"That's what you get, you damn oversized trashcan!" Cassandra shouted, weakly getting up. She _really_ wanted to slowly dissolve him in agony right now... And, normally, she would. Along with everyone else in a ten mile radius.

But... Unfortunately, that wasn't beneficial at all to her new goal... If she wanted to find and consume those strange creatures these men had apparently encountered, then she'd have to get on their good sides...

"Emily... Carry him... to our village..." Cassandra still had a fairly abnormal high-pitch in her voice, but kept up a commanding tone nonetheless.

"Uh... Are you sure Mother?" Emily hesitantly questioned.

"Yes, I'm sure... I'll explain why later in private to you and Ran..." Cassandra cryptically answered, soon regaining her composure and normal voice. She wouldn't admit that she was still hurting quite a lot though... Definitely going to stick to external digestion rather than direct rape for a few days at the least...

"And you, tin-cans," she looked over to the emotionless knights, "I'd like for you all to come along with us... On peaceful terms."

The knights appeared to be confused. Why was she acting so polite and nice? She hasn't even killed Archon yet! But... Her body language seemed to indicate an interest in the Legion for whatever Zenith-forsaken reason, and she appeared to be inviting them to come with her...

... And they really didn't want to start marching again under an inexperienced leader who had no idea what the hell he was doing.

Thus, the two groups went to Lady's Village, both completely alien and foreign to one another, but with perhaps a semblance of respect on both sides...

* * *

 _ **...**_

Under the cover of the sacred night, Carmilla and Elizabeth were shapeshifted into their bat-forms, flying in a really bizarre and almost humiliating fashion to slowly lead the hordes of knights to Sabasa.

 _Aaaagh... I'm never going to live this down..._ Carmilla mentally moaned, wanting to cry.

 _Queen Fatima had better give me more leeway in what I can collect for my arts and artifacts gallery... We're going to be the laughingstock of the Monster Kingdoms if word of this ever gets out..._ Elizabeth thought, her ear twitching as she fluttered through the air.

The knights took a while to notice the two, but eventually one noticed, and the Knights began to follow them out of simple curiosity. The two vampires knew now though that leading them in a constant circle or leading them to go back wouldn't have worked however, as they saw that several knights occasionally took breaks to write and draw a massive amount of information onto their maps, including the directions and turns they took. It was crude for what it had, but considering these knights probably knew nothing of the Safina region, it was a decent first try.

Elizabeth was particularly paranoid, mostly because of their leader. It seemed to her that their leader, the one with the white armor with golden highlights. He seemed to be about as strong as her or Carmilla... And if they were caught, or Carmilla messed up in front of him and all of those knights...

Well, she didn't like envisioning futures where her pride and ego were torn apart as well as her dying.

Carmilla almost seemed to yawn, "Eliza~... I'm tired..."

... It appears she _would_ need to start envisioning that future soon.

"Wh-what!?" Elizabeth furiously "shouted" in a whisperlike tone, "Of all times, _now_ you want to sleep!?"

"Yeah... I'm not used to these stressful missions... Hey, can we go drain a few men after this? I want to relax~..." Carmilla giggled dumbly for a few moments, before falling in and out of the air, fluttering quickly back up.

 _"Hah! Look at 'em! Looks like they're drunk!"_ one of the knights shouted, laughing along with his fellow warriors. The two vampires didn't exactly like the language they spoke... It was quite ignoble and unrefined. Like a peasant or a slave, but somehow even more of a dumbass with no concept of grammar or literacy.

 _Gah... I hate this. I hate it. I hate Carmilla. I hate these men. I hate Sabasa. I hate Safina itself! Why the hell did I even move here to begin with!? Why couldn't have I picked up a nicer job as an undercover human or a county governor? I could've been the Vampire Ambassador to Hellgondo, I could've been the ruler of a nice quaint little village, I could've even started my own little sub-coven of vampires to assist Queen Fatima! Why the hell did I choose to be her damn lapdog along with Carmilla!?_ Elizabeth silently ranted inside her mind, _And more importantly, why haven't I gotten any bigger in the past 200 years!? I'm still just as flat now as I was then, while Carmilla looks even bigger than before! Why can't anything just come my way for once!?_

Elizabeth silently ranted and raved inside of her mind, occasionally thwapping Carmilla awake with her wings as the two slowly, but surely, led the hordes of knights closer to Sabasa...

"Owie..." Carmilla winced slightly from the occasional whacks Elizabeth gave her to keep her awake, "Do you have to be so rough?..."

"Yes. I do. Both in bed, and right here, when I feel like slipping up and letting our true natures get out to the giant horde of superpowered human tanks below us would 'maybe' get us killed. Now hush... I'm missing out on my bloodbath for this mission, and the last thing I also need missing is my sense of hearing."

"Okay, okay, sheesh, you're so uptight... I guess that explains why you're still a washboard..." Carmilla mused, making Elizabeth truly and genuinely wish upon a Genie that it was possible to strangle the busty ditz right now in their bat forms.

The two kept flying around through the dusty and barren deserts, until finally, at long last, they reached their target destination.

 _"By Lord Zenith Almighty! A city! These bats led us to a city!"_ a Knight cried out, much to the group's joy and glee.

However, the knight in white-gold armor, the one that the two Vampires were most worried about, happened to be staring directly at them, almost as if considering shooting them down with a nearby crossbow to see if the two were more than they appeared to be...

"Psst. Elizabeth! Think we should nab that one? I think he's a winner~..." Carmilla whispered, continuing to play dumb as the two were supposed to... Though it was debatable if it actually was her just playing around.

"Oh, and I wonder what made you think _that,_ Carmilla? Maybe the fact he's the only one with that armor color as well as the only one that doesn't look like he's thinking of us two as the messenger of whatever god they worship?" Elizabeth grumpily remarked back, but appeared to brighten up for once, "On the bright side however... With the majority of this Legion of Knights occupied fighting Sabasa, the two of us should be able to take that one down and bring him back to Lady Fatima."

"Yeah~! Ah, look! They're already starting to invade!" Carmilla giggled with childish glee as the knights began to go into formation, with several mages casting gigantic fireballs to break down the walls...

"Oh, really? Wonderful! Now this'll be a breeze to pull off..." Elizabeth and Carmilla smiled and cackled quietly, flying away into the distance to watch the night-invasion from afar...

* * *

 ** _..._**

Luka could say he's had many... _interesting,_ things happen to him in the past few weeks. First he sees Goddess Ilias in a dream, then he misses the baptism ceremony he waited for so long, then he goes and somehow gets the _Monster Lord_ of all people travelling with him, and meets three out of the Four Heavenly Knights without getting raped within or past an inch of his life. And that was just the major stuff he had (inadvertently or not) pulled off so far. There were more minor things like Witch Hunt and Harpy Villages, and of course, the Wind and Earth Spirits Sylph and Gnome respectively.

Well, most of that was blown right out of the water when a giant tank of a man crashed through his hotel room's wall, covered in blood and the broken steel of Sabasa's troops.

Luka was like any other normal person in this situation, and reacted only with: "Gah!? What the hell!?"

The Knight turned to him, and issued a warcry, pacing closer and closer to him with a greatsword in hand...

"Aw, crap... Guess I have no choice but to fight!"

The Fake Hero slashed at the knight's armor... Only to find Angel Halo only made a minor dent!

The Knight roared, and slammed his greatsword into the ground, nearly cleaving Luka in two!

Panicked, Luka instantly fell into his usual tactics for fighting Monster Girls and summoned Sylph, hoping the Wind Wall would help divert the knight's attacks.

Sylph emitted a weak cry over to him telepathically, _Waaaah... He's too heavy for my winds to affect! You won't be able to do much with me as I am now Luka, sorry!..._

 _Really?_ Luka said in shock, just how heavy was that knight's armor?... _This isn't going to end well... At least we tried Sylph, thank you. I have no training with you Gnome... But hopefully it works out, somehow._

Luka tried to take in the power of the Earth... But saw another attack by the Knight, and had to disrupt his concentration to move.

 _"You are a small warrior... I would think you'd use that to your advantage, runty, instead of standing around like a goblin up for target practice!"_ the Knight taunted in a foreign dialect, confusing Luka even further about what the hell was going on.

"Ora!" Luka tried lighter, faster swings against the Knight's armor and shield, seeing if it was like the first time he ever fought a Slime Girl...

But those swings failed to yield any notable damage.

The Knight sharply spun around, almost forming a tiny tornado of sorts as he slashed into Luka and sent him crashing into the furniture.

"O-ow..." Luka quietly meditated, recovering his health while thinking... Maybe he wasn't strong enough? And, if all he needed here was strength...

 _Well, it's worth a shot. It is "Earth" after all,_ he simply thought, calling upon Gnome's powers, and jumping up and off from the ruined table for a _Demon Skull Beheading._

The Knight looked confused, simply raising his shield to disrupt the move and then go in for an easy kill, only to find his shield and part of his arm sliced clean-off by the move.

Luka looked on in horror at the Knight screamed out in fury and pain, clutching the stump where his shield-arm used to be. _I-I just... I... I didn't think that..._

Luka didn't get the time to finish his thoughts, as the Knight quickly charged into for a swifter, far more brutal assault with his blade. The Fake Hero quickly began to figure out the hidden advantages he held in this fight, now that he had the time to think without a giant mass of metal overbearing on him, such as his small size and agility, which helped him considerably with avoiding fatal or otherwise debilitating blows, as well as try to stab at certain gaps and joints in his armor, though all of them turned out to be covered.

In time, he figured out the Knight would not fall for another power move like _Demon Skull Beheading_ , and needed something quick... Like _Thunder Thrust._

But where?... He didn't want to aim it at the small slits in the knight's helm, as that might fail, or worse.

It almost seemed like hours passed as the Fake Hero and Legionnaire fought, until finally, Luka steeled himself. He couldn't waste anymore time here, not when it seemed like Sabasa was already suffering under a massive attack from other knights.

"Farewell, knight whose name I don't know... _Thunder Thrust!"_ Luka lept up, and quickly thrusted his sword out into the knight's visor, stabbing the man cleanly in the head.

The man convulsed and twitched, before it sounded like a sealing happened underneath that suit of armor... What actually happened, Luka didn't want to know, and instead ran out, praying to Ilias that he could still help the citizens of Sabasa before anything else happened...

* * *

 _ **...**_

The Goddess Ilias looked down on the Earth, gazing at the strange sect of humanity that was once unknown to her.

How this "Legion" came to be, she didn't know, but she was determined to find out what exactly is going on, and why they were so violent against both monsters and humans alike.

At the rate they were going, she even thought that they might wind up inadvertently fulfilling her "Final Solution" plan... Which, while it was an amusing thought, was completely outrageous and unnecessary at this point in time.

Why?

It was quite simple, to someone as ancient and all-knowing as her.

Her eternal nemesis, Alipheese Fateburn I... The Knights, Barbarians, Legionnaires, whatever they were called, were taking a large amount of monster-girl prisoners, yes, but they were slaughtering a far higher amount of monster girls than the Great Seal could handle... At the rate they were going, they would cause the entire world to be flooded with Darkness, and whether by intention or not, allow Alipheese I and the Great Ancestors to walk the Earth once more...

Unacceptable. For now, anyways.

After all, the Chimeras and that filthy scylla-lamia manchild of a Monster Lord were kept around in Heaven for a reason... And once the Chimeras were high enough in number, then it would be safe to exterminate the monster-girls, and maybe the humanity she was familiar with if they had failed her once again.

But that left the question... An all, far-too important question...

Who was she to these men? Who was Ilias, Great and Glorious Creator of Light and Humanity, the Sacred and All-Knowing One, the Omnipotent Goddess of Creation to these bloodthirsty and seemingly uncivilized and savage men?

Who was Seraph Eden, the Third (Though, it was technically First, but Ilias cared not,) Great Seraph of the Heavenly Hosts to these men? Who was... Well, _anyone_ in Heaven to these humans?

Well, that, she wanted to know _now_. Her orders and commands were law. Her lusts and desires were moments of ecstasy to fulfill. What she wanted, she would get, no matter how long it took...

Though, right about now, she didn't have too good a feeling about this "Legion's" beliefs in her judging from the frequent shouts of something relating to "Zenith" with idols and figures being a prominent marking in some of their galleons and that one fortress-port they built when they arrived here to begin with...

Nevertheless, she was _certain_ they would see the truth of who their rightful, benevolent, loving Goddess was when they saw her when she decided to make her move...

For now? She was content to watch, and let the fireworks spark off between Seraph Eden and her other "lieutenants" about how to deal with this new "threat..."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Back yet again with another chapter. Hope this one's decent! Don't be shy or afraid to tell me what you all think in a PM or Review! Really motivates me to keep writing on!

Anyways, there's some reviews to answer!...

Fish on Land: Ah, thank you! I was having doubts if my character POV switching was a good option or not, but so far it does appear to be working. Indeed, the Legion is a horde of barbaric warlords, but the Legion values honor above almost everything else, and has a code they (typically) abide by when concerning sentient beings. I do hope the Medusa scene helped make the Legion appear more morally grey, instead of being completely evil. I wouldn't go as far to say that the Legionnaires are giants, rather, the usual Legionnaire is about 1-2 feet taller than the typical Sentoran on average due to frequent warfare and thus needing to be capable of running and jumping much higher.

Zenith, I do realize in hindsight was never really established to be, well, as you said, a "giant" of sorts when compared to other people. I'll ensure to elaborate further on Zenith and the other Legionnaires' height when I get the chance to. I apologize if there was confusion about modern Zenith's height compared to other characters. You do bring up a good point about them finding difficulty navigating through Sentoran Buildings though, and I suppose the only reason I have to explain that off is because so far Legionnaires have only fought in open areas or bombarding or crashing through buildings.

ShadowKingLegette: Well... Uh... I guess I already answered your review before I even got to this point? I did just now finally get around to Ilias in this chapter. But yeah, she's mostly just keeping an eye on them... for now, anyways.

And so, without further ado, I bid you all a good day!

* * *

 _ **The boiling seas, wrathful and Chaotic, let loose an abomination with a lust to devour all beings. The Titan Ymir, descendant of the Dark Mistress, kneeled and ran from the mere mention of this deity. Not even the Gods themselves could truly kill this being, shrouded in the Chaos. Inside the depths of Tartarus, this demon of nothingness lies, hungering and starving in the hollow voids, spawning scions to infest the seas, to consume all that is and isn't in the innocent worlds beyond...**_

 _ **Blitzel Kreig was that abomination's name.**_


	6. Negotiations in the Queen's Webs

_**...**_

Julius looked impassively on at the abominable creature, with its vague, grossly malnourished feminine shape and arms, and the many slippery tentacles and jagged tendrils that enwrapped themselves around and below her, acting as some sort of "dress" in a sense, with the ones that erupted from her back just briskly waving and pulsating, hardening and limping up as she breathed.

He was hardly intimidated by this strange creature lurking in the shadows, with her glowing, bulging eyes and scarlet aura...

"Apoptosis— no, it was Apollyon, wasn't it?" he said, with his back straight and arms crossed behind his back, "I, as you already seem to know, am Julius Zenith, the leading General in this new 'Legion' us humans have formed against the monster menace. State your intentions."

 _"I saw your kind, falling so pitifully in battle, always giving their lives away for the greater good but never imparting the knowledge you gained unto your children, leading you to the same mistakes, over and over..."_

Julius seemed outwardly unaffected, but secretly noted that, wondering if it was an issue in humans that they never truly learned from their mistakes.

"Although avoiding my question with a clear, concise answer, this is a fair point," he conceded, "And you come here saying you can 'help' me? Do tell me what proposal you have in mind monster."

The Apoptosis' eyes only glowed for a few moments, _"Yes... In exchange, I want your help with something I need..."_

"Then go on, spit it out demon. You've sparked my interest now," Julius said, crossing his arms.

 _"Don't you dare speak to me that way, child... I've been defending this timeline and many others from the chaos alongside A_ _dramelech and other apoptosis before your version of Ilias even existed,"_ Apollyon hissed, _"In any case... I have learned about many tactics and forms of technology over the years... I alone could turn your pitiful colony of men and women into a war machine within a few decades. Faster if I had someone as highly respected as you to introduce them for me."_

"Oh? And what would one of those ideas of yours be?..." Julius questioned, still thinking of her as nothing above the typical monster that commonly tricked and killed people... just perhaps a little more articulate and smooth than most. Maybe even civil, as shocking as that would be.

 _"Your armor is one that I can suggest changes for right now. It is too thin, too easy to pierce and tear... You must make it thicker, cover the whole body with hard-wrought alloys and steels... Look at your fallen comrade, Brutus. His armor was torn to shreds. Do you want to make that same mistake? Do you want his memory and valor to be forgotten?"_

Julius paused, taking note of that musing, "I'd tell you to go on, but I know you want something in return. What is it?"

 _"Smart man. As I have said, I have been fighting against the chaos for countless millennia now since my birth... Unlike my unthinking kin however, I can tell the Chaos is spreading far too quickly than it normally should. The Apoptosis should've contained the chaos long ago... As far as I can foresee, there is a Goddess of Chaos, who will be dealt with in time with or without my intervention, and one other... You call it 'Blitzel Kreig.' The Returner. Others from another timeline far different from this one called it 'Cronus.' It is my duty to destroy the Goddess of Chaos and Cronus, and stop the spread of chaos... But I cannot change my ways, nor can I make another way when I am constantly keeping Cronus sealed in this timeline. I need someone else to help me..."_

"And I'd assume that someone is me?"

 _"If you take up my offer that is. Help the both of us and limit the chaos which will save not only your timeline, but many others and perhaps even creation itself, and I'll make your Legion unstoppable..."_

Julius frowned, having heavy amounts of distrust in the Apoptosis. He felt that he was being played for a fool here... And he hated it when people tried to puppet him like a pawn.

... Well, he guessed that this talk of multiversal destruction was a good argument for the ends justifying the means, even if it meant using dishonorable methods.

 _I heavily doubt you can truly help us in the long run, monster, but maybe you do have something of worth... Only one way to find out,_ Julius decided, "Apollyon, as long as you keep your slippery words to yourself, and remain loyal to the Legion, then I shall gratefully accept your assistance."

Apollyon formed a strange smirk or grin of sorts, on her mouth. _"Wonderful... Come, I shall give you a lesson right now. I've picked up a few ideas and knowledge on blacksmithing from a certain Dragon Pup in another timeline..."_

* * *

 ** _..._**

She could scarcely remember the happy days of her life, when everything was perfect...

It was back before they had all migrated to the heavens. How lush and green the open fields were, and how touching it was to watch her younger kin fly around and play...

Sure, Micaela and Lucifina often destroyed things and wound up making her clean up somehow, but still. Life was easy, life was... life was fun. It was when they could freely wander the fields, pet the animals, listen to the birds sing as the sun warmed up their bodies...

And it was when she truly did deserve to be called the "Third," and when she would've been perfectly understanding and accepting of that. Even when... well...

 _"Aaaah... Mother Ilias, why can't you ever scold them for doing that? They tease and steal from the apes all the time..."_

 _"Now, now Eden... You should know better. Just because I don't catch them doing it makes it suddenly okay."_

 _"Waaah... But you don't do anything when they're bullying me..."_

 _"Well, that, I mean..."_

 _"They covered me in snow and stabbed me with sticks and a carrot, and then said, 'Oh, where's Eden Mr. Snowman?...' I can't keep up with them at all... They always solve problems before me, beat me in races, games, everything! They always make me want to cry when I play with them..."_

The Faint Memory of her beloved Creator seemed to remain silent, almost as if pitying her, before just saying, _"Don't fear, Eden... At least, you've always been my loyal, and good, child. Always making sure the younger angels don't wander off or do something dangerous, telling me everything you saw without lying at all, keeping destruction to a minimal, and always trying to keep my company even when other people are having fun elsewhere... I suppose, in a sense, you're my most loyal, and trustworthy, child."_

The younger version of herself seemed to be completely overtaken by joy. Wasn't this the first time her Goddess had praised her without comparing her to Micaela or Lucifina?...

... Eden supposed, that it was this moment in her life, that truly made her unconditionally loving and faithful to Ilias despite all the centuries of constant mistreatment and mockery she had to take. How long has it been since then?... How long since somebody complimented or praised her without bringing up how it "Reminded them of Micaela's tactics," or "You fight just like Lucifina did!"

How long since that day when Ilias gave her the only compliment that didn't remind her of how overshadowed she was by her elder sisters?

She didn't know. Thousands of years ago, probably. Thousands of years before Micaela and Lucifina betrayed her and Ilias, and completely broke the angels' hearts...

 _Why, Micaela, Lucifina? First you two tortured me, leaving me in the dust while you two did whatever you wanted, then you go on to be better than me in every way possible in the Great Monster Wars, making everyone ignore my victories against Ancestor Hiruko, and finally you two go off and betray us, becoming fallen angels. You two! The best and original creations of Goddess Ilias herself! And now, I'm left here, alone. Surrounded by a fallen Monster Lord and an insane scientist, while Ilias still mourns for losing you two. While she still mourns you two and completely ignores me, as she almost always has along with everyone else..._

Eden sighed, reflecting on her memories. So much... But even now, she'd stay devoted to her Goddess. Ilias was all she had left... She wouldn't fail her Goddess now. Not now, not ever.

 _But now... Now I finally have my chance... A Legion of Superhumans... If I can only bridge the gap between us and them, and gain new allies for Goddess Ilias!... Maybe finally, by that point, I'll have recognition, maybe then..._

 _I can step out of my sisters' shadows._

But how to do that? How to approach a horde of bloodthirsty barbarians? That, she didn't know. Not yet, anyways.

Though, with her power, it couldn't possibly hurt to at least be blunt and just manifest in front of them... But Ilias was already planning that...

Wait. These men came from the seas, on galleons. Cupid even reported seeing one leave!

That had to mean there was another land, where these men came from, right? It'll be there that Eden can talk to their more civilized people, and figure out why they were so strong!

 _Black Alice... Promestein... You two won't be talking shit about me for long when I return..._ Eden mused, flying off to personally visit the physical world herself...

* * *

 _ **...**_

Carmilla and Elizabeth wouldn't lie. They were pretty confident the both of them could take down the Knight Leader pretty easily if they both ganged up on him.

The problem was that another Legionnaire happened to be fighting Carmilla right now, leaving Elizabeth to contend with the knight by herself.

 _I swear to Alipheese Almighty I am going to shove Carmilla's sword right up her_ — Elizabeth deftly avoided the Knight's swings, _Gah, damn it! For Dracula's sake, can I just please at least finish my own thoughts!?_

Her thoughts were simply answered with the knight attempting to cleave her in two with a mighty overhead swing.

What she thought of next, would be best left unknown to the world.

Refocusing herself and steeling herself for a brutal fight, Elizabeth aimed one of her gloved fingers at the knight, and from the tip of her finger several black bolts of lightning surged out into the knight's armor, briefly paralyzing and electrocuting him. Yet, it appeared the electricity wasn't conducted well on whatever kind of alloy the armor was made from...

 _"_ Well, so much for taking advantage of a Vampire's affinity for Lightning and his obvious resemblance to a walking lightning rod..." Elizabeth muttered, dispersing herself into bats to fly out of the knight's slashes and shield bashes.

 _"Come, let's dance and burn together in this glorious battle, Vampire! Tonight, I, Optio Agrenor, shall become Agrenor the Conqueror once this city has fallen!"_ She could hardly understand a single word the brute just taunted her with, but she guessed that "Optio" must've been his name judging from how he emphasized it.

"At this point, your armor is more interesting than whatever your blood tastes like, human... I think it'll look wonderful on a stand in my gallery!" Elizabeth shouted, casting another spell, this time fusing Ice and Wind magic together to form a cyclone of ice shards, the giant spears of ice shattering against the man's body, though he seemed to stand strong in spite of it.

"Optio" grunted, simply raising his shield in front of his face to protect the slits in his visor from any ice or stray shards. In time, the cyclone faded, and though the knight was still standing, he was definitely a bit worse for wear.

 _So magic does work on him... Is it his armor that resists magic? Or maybe he's just used to extreme conditions..._ Elizabeth mused. Often, by now, she'd start mixing up her tactics with various sexcraft moves, but considering how thick the armor was and the general ruthlessness of the knight, she doubted that would be a good move to try. So, instead, she'd have to get more creative with what she did have... _Ah, yes, I still have my mantle, don't I?_

Vanishing into a swarm of bats, Elizabeth soon reformed behind the knight and began using her mantle's strips to begin wrapping around the knight's visor, preventing him from seeing. Almost instantly, she had to hold onto him for dear life as he began to thrash and shake about, trying to throw or chop her off.

Frantically keeping her monocle on, Elizabeth suddenly felt extremely grateful for her short stature and tiny bust as she narrowly avoided the knight's attempts to grapple and throw her down into the ground. She knew if he got her pinned to the ground it was over for her... So she tried to use her mantle to slip into and undo whatever kept his helmet on, even as she was practically playing a very-much lethal game of bull-riding.

Soon, the knight stumbled near a crumbling and burning building, with crisp ashes and smoke fuming above the scarlet and vivid giblets and flesh of various warriors, but, strangely turned his back to it, much to Elizabeth's relief. Fire was a major weakness of the Vampire race...

That relief didn't last long however, as the knight simply jumped back and crushed her between his own weight and the flaming floors of the building.

She screamed, her mantle instantly falling loose from the Knight's helm as she tried getting him off of her. He soon did get off, only to grab her by the throat and slam her into the walls, dragging her head through the burning woods and stones of the building.

Carmilla distinctly heard Elizabeth's screams, "E-Elizabeth! Hold on!"

Completely ignoring her weary enemy, Carmilla quickly broke off to get to Elizabeth, crashing in to claw and slash at the Knight.

He simply grunted from the impact, dropping Elizabeth and focusing on Carmilla, _"Another nightstalker? The desert is ill-fitting for ones like you two..."_

"Let her go!" Carmilla shouted, her substantially much-larger mantle completely wrapping the Knight up and carrying Elizabeth away to safety.

The Knight grunted and heaved, getting further wrapped up and twisted in the mantle. Carmilla, figuring it'd be futile to try and take him out with physical force, simply opened a funnel in the mantle for smoke to pour in, slowly suffocating the knight. She felt like her mantle was torn multiple times as she held him down, which, to a normal human could be probably be best described as ripping your arm off.

Though it took only a couple of minutes, it felt like hours to Carmilla before the Knight finally collapsed. Whether it was due to the sheer heat or being suffocated by the smoke, she didn't know, nor did she really care to know right now...

Panting, Carmilla heaved the Knight up with her mantle, "Gah... Much, much heavier than you look! Geez, scale you up a bit and you'd make a Behemoth feel good about her weight..."

Looking around briefly, she soon found Elizabeth, barely conscious.

Despite being badly burned and some of her flesh being ripped or seared off by the stones of the building, Elizabeth still managed to give a glare at Carmilla. "Where... In Minagi's name... _Were YOU!?"_

"Agh, sorry, sorry!... I was distracted, the one I fought was stronger than I expected..." Carmilla muttered, lifting Elizabeth up with her own two arms, "Come on... we've gotten our target. Queen Fatima will be eager to see our prize..."

Elizabeth just moaned, "Get moving... I need a nice long soak in a bloodbath..."

Carmilla nodded, and simply used her leftover magic to levitate herself and the other two up into the air, flying away to the Vampire's Citadel...

* * *

 _ **...**_

Deep within Death Mountain, Typhon reeled from the strange sensations and feelings he suddenly had. One could call this "Sentience," but since Typhon had been a mindless beast up to this point, he didn't really know this.

 _What... What is this? Why does this... This sound, carry such a different meaning to me? Why do I think like this? What even is thinking? Why do I make these weird simulations of sound in my head? What's going on?... Why do I feel so different? Such a weird sensation... And how do I even know what these sounds mean? Are they from the Legion?..._

He thought carefully. What was once instinct started to form a different image in his head... In fact, they were many different images...

Images of reverence towards the former Lords of Death Mountain before the Legionnaire killed all three at once... Worship of Great Cronus who lurked and hungered in the seas...

And death. Death, hatred, Malice, and bloodshed. These... "Images," or "Thoughts," that Typhon assumed to be the reason why so many monsters had instinctive responses to the humans and their weapons... Why they seemed to feel and act so much older than they really were.

In truth, what Typhon had felt were the memories that all monsters inherited, dating all the way back to the very beginning when monsters had just risen from the First. But only now, with someone that could comprehend such a common thing, did they have any true value or meaning beyond simple instinct, battle tactics, and the idea of "Survival of the Fittest."

And what he saw drove him mad with rage. Constant strife, bloodshed, and hatred between the monsters... Even before the Legion, the monsters attacked, raped, and devoured each other like animals. Why!? Why did they act like this!? What kind of sick God was their creator, to have left them in this... this miserable half-life? This miserable existence as mere animals? They were monsters! Not simple beasts! They are superior to animals! They can and should be superior to _humans!_ Humans! Violent, vicious, murderous humans! Humans kept them like this! Humans came here, long ago, and have always killed them! They're even worse than his own kind were! Grendal united them against that very threat! Humans are the true enemy! Not themselves, not their own brothers and kin! To survive, they cannot hope to one day breed another godly monster like Ymir... They must fight now! Fight and unite against their common enemy!

 _No more... Goblins... Orcs... Giants... Gorgons... Demons... All will unite... Against the enemy. Against humanity! A Brotherhood... One for all, and all for one... No monster left behind... We will unite, and drive back the invaders! They slaughter us, mock us, treat us like sport! No more! All shall quake in fear of the mighty Brotherhood of Death Mountain! Ymir, Jotun, and Grendal shall be avenged! Our people shall be avenged! The real monsters shall suffer, just as we have!_

Gripping his Trident, Typhon rose from his spot in the Grand Chasm, and walked off, intent on using his newfound sentience for the good of his kind...

* * *

 _ **...**_

Cassandra walked into her mansion, with Emily and a few Legionnaires following her. Ran quickly ran to her, shocked.

"Lord Cassandra! You're back so soon!?" Ran exclaimed, "And why are our enemies with you!?"

"Calm down Ran. I knocked out their leader. In fact, Emily's carrying him right now."

"H-he's very heavy..." Emily whined, dumping Archon onto the floor, "Stupid, mean, tincan thing..." she muttered childishly under her breath.

"I... I see..." Ran nodded, "But... Why? Why spare him? He attacked you, didn't he?"

"Far worse, actually..." Cassandra muttered, still feeling quite sore from where he stabbed her...

"What did he do then?..." Ran simply asked.

Cassandra felt a bright blush warm her cheeks as she remembered the ordeal she went through, "... Nothing you need to know." _No one must ever know what happened..._

Emily quickly nodded, "Nothing Ran needs to know!"

Ran tilted her head in confusion. What happened in their fight?...

Cassandra sighed, waving the whole thing aside, "Look, that's besides the point. Go to my office you two, I'll explain why I kept this garbage can alive there, in private. Meanwhile..." she turned towards the knights, "You can make yourselves at home here for now. Don't go outside."

 _"What?"_ One of them said, wondering what the hell this woman was even saying.

"Was that a yes or a no?..." Cassandra questioned, just as confused.

 _"... What? Can you please speak a normal language, please? Your voice sounds like it could burst my eardrums too, so can you speak a bit more deeper like a normal person?"_ he then asked.

"... I'm going to assume that's a very long and convoluted 'yes' in your tongue. Good! Just stay in here, where you can't cause any damage or loud noises, and we'll be fine," Cassandra said, turning away and leaving to talk to Emily and Ran in private.

 _"This is a crazy bitch right here... First she tries melting Archon, then knocks him out when he stabs her down in that weird lower mouth of hers, and now she's offering us... I dunno, dinner or some shit?"_

 _"Man, I don't fuck with this shit. We should've just kept on marching until we got to a decent settlement or fortress,"_ A Knight simply grunted.

 _"This is weird... I guess it's tradition to bring defeated opponents back home? That must be why she brought Centurion Archon here."_

 _"But... why? That goes against all common sense. It must be for a different reason..."_ The Knights didn't know what the meaning of all this was, and debated over why the hell someone would bring an enemy right to their home and acting somewhat cordial.

As it would turn out, Emily and Ran were asking the same question.

"Why, Lord Cassandra? Why bring them right to us?" Ran asked, confused, "Are you interested in keeping him as a mate or slave?"

"No," Cassandra bluntly said, "In fact, if not for the fact that he's useful to us right now, I'd be melting him alive in pure agony."

"So why not now though?" Emily chirped, "Why isn't Mother killing him?"

"Because, Emily, Ran, there were trace amounts of something I tasted from his blade... Something extremely rich in darkness and power, yet not quite linked to monsters we know them... Ran, why don't you test my reflexes? Aim for my head, right now," Cassandra said, calmly presenting her head, "I remember my last record for catching your tentacle was at three seconds."

"It was at three seconds, milady," Ran simply said, preparing one of her tentacles and aiming right for her lord's head... Before sharply jabbing it at her!

No one even had the chance before parts of Cassandra's dress ripped off and caught the tentacle mid-punch.

"... I time that at being less than a second, Ran. And unless you got old and weak, which I doubt, then I do think I've improved massively just from that tiny blood droplet alone... And it was blood. Therefore, it came from a living creature, somewhere in this world. Therefore, I _must_ have more! I can't pass up on this chance... If I were devour more of whatever creature this man once killed, I could become so much more stronger! That is the reason why I keep him alive, so I can follow him back to his home and find those strange creatures... So I can become stronger and forcefully claim the Throne from Alipheese the Sixteenth," Cassandra explained, "And, help me out well enough, and I'd be willing to share that same source of power with you two... Provided you can keep your mouths shut about it when we get there and find it."

Emily nodded, "Emily is confused... But Emily heard Mother can get stronger because of the knights, so Emily's willing to give them a chance!"

Ran on the other hand, looked doubtful, "I'm not so sure of this, Lord Cassandra... What if they don't exist anymore? What if it was just a fluke?"

Cassandra huffed, "Then at least I'll have gotten out and stretched my limbs a little, and maybe I'll learn something new. Don't tell me you're unwilling to believe something like this is impossible when a massive army of professional, elite knights just came in and practically made a mockery out of the most advanced human nation in the world?"

"Well... I... I'm just concerned for your safety, Lord Cassandra. It has always been my priority to serve, protect, and ensure the Nereneids were happy. I've been serving your family line for quite some time now. I still remember when your mother hired me to help raise and train you for your fight against Alice XV... Even in the face of something that could potentially give you the power to finally claim the Monster Lord's throne, I still can't forget my duties. Forgive me, Lord Cassandra, but I must always ensure your safety and happiness along with Lady Emily's."

Cassandra paused, before softly smiling, "You've done nothing wrong yet, Ran. You are right in keeping some skepticism about this... But I have felt it firsthand. I cannot let this chance go... Still, your loyalty touches me. Thank you, Ran."

Ran quietly nodded her head, "Your family has given me a life and place in this world, milady. I will always be by your side, though I must point things out for your sake."

"Yes, yes... You are right. Your loyalty will be rewarded greatly, when I finally become the Monster Lord..." Cassandra promised, "And to become Monster Lord... I must find the source of that blood, and I'll find out where it came from that knight..."

"Yes... Speaking of knights, shouldn't we keep an eye on the conscious ones right now?..." Emily idly mentioned, her head tentacles swaying about.

"... Oh. Right. That can lead up to a bad situation, couldn't it? Well, let's get going then... Best make sure Madame Insect and Madame Umbrella don't make passes at them. Or actually try to eat them," Cassandra mused, "Well, come along you two. We're going to be learning a new language talking to these tincans..."

Emily and Ran simply grimaced at the prospect before accompanying Cassandra to continue talking and trying to form a good means of conversation with the knights.

* * *

 _ **...**_

The Spider Princess was simply reading, having decided to put off her knitting ventures off for now. She was teetering on whether she should intervene in the war between Grangold and the Legion... If it could even be called that.

A quiet rapping echoed nearby her lair in the caverns, alerting her that someone wanted to enter.

"Come in," Charlotte said, marking her place in the book and setting it aside.

The arachne walked in, revealing it to be Mizuki.

"My Queen," Mizuki lowered her head in respect, "There is a human guest who wishes to hold an audience with you."

"A human?... He must be quite important if none of you have eaten him yet," Charlotte remarked, "Who is it?"

"It's King Grangold. We don't know why he suddenly just came here, but he said he absolutely needed to have an audience with you."

Charlotte quirked an eyebrow. King Grangold, here? This couldn't be a trick to put her down like he did with Queen Ant... Otherwise he would've just done an invasion instead. "Color me interested. I didn't think he had the balls to just waltz into my territory by himself without sending me a warning or letter. Let him in."

"But what if he's planning to do something to you? He might've developed new technology to use against you that we don't know of..." Mizuki protested.

"I don't care. I can respect bravery and power, and right now, he's shown he gained the former at the very least. Now, let him in. I'll tear him to shreds myself if he tries anything..." the Spider Princess simply waved off her lieutenant's concerns; she was certain that while the human king had certainly become _very_ ballsy, he still likely had a long way to go before he ever posed a serious threat to her.

Mizuki simply closed her eyes and nodded, "... I obey, my Queen. I'll let him in now..."

The Tsuchigumo left the Spider Princess' lair, and after some time, the King of Grangold awkwardly made his way in.

"... Spider Princess," he simply addressed.

"Spider Queen, or Insect Queen. Either one will do. Not Spider _Princess,_ " Charlotte quickly corrected, already in a bad mood from the mention of _that_ title.

"But isn't that the official title given to you by the other Queens?... Ah, whatever. Spider Queen," the King said, "I've come here wanting to make a bargain with you."

"A bargain?" Charlotte giggled, "You're getting more interesting by the second. Tell me, why on earth would you ever want to deal with the Arachne Clan? And so suddenly at that..."

"... I'm certain you know of the Legion that's been invading Gold Region recently. They're going to march on the capital within a few days at the rate they're moving at, and I'm uncertain if the Queen Ant and I can handle them."

"The Queen Ant?... Antine-Ann? She's still alive? I thought you enslaved her and her children. Either that or you just killed her. You're working with her?" Charlotte said incredulously, unbelieving that after all this time, the Queen Ant was still around.

"Oh... That's... Well... I mean, she's still trapped. But I've been talking with her. I've been trying to negotiate and get her to work with us for her freedom and an equal power between the two of us instead of being constantly trapped and treated like an abomination," the King responded.

"... Well that's a pity. I say keep her trapped there. No, kill her! Do the both of us a favor and just put her down. She'll only drag you down," Charlotte advised, still vividly recalling Antine-Ann being the one who mocked and scorned her the most when she was outcast from the Insect Queen's throne...

"I probably won't, but I'll keep your words in mind," the King said, "But, we're getting off-topic. What I came here for was to try and get the Arachne Clan to support and help defend Grangold from the invading knights. Are you willing to help us?... I'm sure you must have a price or desire in mind for compensation."

"Ooh... I do indeed. Tell me, what price do you propose you pay us in exchange for helping you against these knights?" Charlotte asked sweetly, yet somehow, there was a biting tone that implied the end price of getting her to work with him would be devastating...

"... A... A monthly tribute. Of anything you want up to a hundred. A hundred spices, a hundred lumber or metal supplies, a hundred weapons..." He offered, deciding to skip past the pointless small prices and go for something that might be decent.

"A monthly tribute?" Charlotte hummed, "Normally, this would be enough, but considering how the Gold Region's basically been raped by this Legion, I don't think you have the men, wealth, or raw materials to keep up that monthly tribute."

"Th-then how about a slave force? My capital still has plenty of artificial monsters and automatons leftover... You could use them to focus on expanding, building, or doing menial work while you and your arachnes focused on more important things and hunting."

"Possible... I do fancy the thought of having a few of your Black Golems and other smaller creations reinforce my military might... But Black Golems are fairly weak outside of magic, aren't they? And your other Golems, such as the Rock and Mud Golems, aren't exactly desirable in narrow cave systems like mine..."

"Gah... Well, what about land? Surely you want to expand your territory past what you have now..."

"And you'd be right, I do. How much do you plan on giving me?..."

"You could have the forested regions," he offered.

"No. They're quite small, and as such, a horrible payment. Give me half of the Gold Region, and then I'll consider it."

"No! A fourth, and maybe a tribute for six months."

"That and a dozen of your best men as slave labor or cattle. Take it or leave it," the Spider Princess said, crossing her arms.

King Grangold remained silent, unsure of whether he should do such a thing to his people...

"A fourth of the Gold Region's land, a tribute of a hundred supplies every month for the next half-year, and a dozen of your best men. That's as far as I'm willing to go. Take up my offer, or you and your people can get massacred by the knights. Your choice."

The King grit his teeth, knowing he'd regret this by the end, "... Fine. You win. I'll give you a fourth of Grangold's territory, a tribute, and a dozen of my best men. Happy now?"

"Oh, more than happy!" the Spider Princess said, "I'm quite ecstatic! And, true to my word, I'll lend the Arachne Clan's help to you when the Legion marches on Grangold."

The King of Grangold only grumbled under his breath, already feeling sorry for whoever got the short end of the stick when it came time for those dozen men to be forked over to the Princess and her Clan, "Well, I suppose I'll take my leave now. I need to prepare my forces and see if Queen Ant is willing to talk more reasonably now..."

"Go and do that. I on the other hand, will be asserting my new dominance and control over my territory..." she giggled, giddy to see the terror on her new subjects' faces.

"Farewell, Spider Queen. (May you burn in hell one day...)" the King said, muttering the last part as he took his leave from her lair and back to his kingdom.

"Hm hm hmm... Aaah, so many new changes, all in my favor..." the Spider Princess remarked, moving to get all of her servants and warriors to meet in order to inform them of the new changes...

* * *

 _ **...**_

While Lord Zenith's Galleon quickly sailed closer and closer to the new lands, a massive beast lurked below them, quietly following the strange ship in hopes of finding a new land with new prey...

Though it had been partially blinded by the Knight Lord and Warlord, it mattered not. Its true form was in Tartarus anyways, still trapped by that infernal Apoptosis... But it was only a matter of time before this timeline completely broke and the chaos was free to consume it... For now, it would be content with mere scions and incarnations of itself feasting upon the world.

After all, with Julius gone, why should it be afraid anymore?

* * *

 _ **...**_

The Medusa and other monster girls sat around in their cells, either bored or scared out of mind. While they weren't being abused or raped or much of anything really...

They also weren't getting to _do_ anything. Not even masturbate to satisfy their lusts and desires. Apparently the knights didn't like hearing their voices very much. Probably because they sounded extremely grating and annoying to them.

So that wound up leaving some of the monster girls jittering and twitching, extremely bored and horny with no way of satisfying both. The others who could control themselves wound up just wondering what the knights were even talking about.

The Medusa herself wasn't complaining about the situation too much. She had a bed, a roof over her head, and some food and water given to her everyday... It wasn't too bad when compared to her previous situation of having to live out in the wild, constantly being screwed over by more experienced and specialized monsters. Not to mention an actual bed was much more comfortable than a tree or the dirt.

She admitted being surrounded by tall, tough, and hulking knights in shining armor was both arousing and pants-shittingly terrifying as well.

But... By the First, was this boring! Sure, she was safe and taken care of, but that didn't change the fact she was a prisoner and could easily be taken out for execution anytime.

 _... If only I could at least **talk** to these knights... Then maybe I'd get a better situation than... this..._ the Medusa thought, silently tapping her fingers against the floor from her bed.

* * *

 _ **...**_

The Elder Shirohebi meditated in silence, apathetic to what her followers did in the forests and other abandoned shrines nearby...

She appeared relatively young, despite her true age. Her scales, skin, and hair were white throughout, with her eyes being a piercing red. Her hair was short and combed neatly, with two beautiful vermillion flowers adorning her head. She dressed in a similarly white kimono, with a purple and green snake-themed obi and a red ribbon tipped with two small bells curling on the tip of her tail.

In terms of color, most would agree Shirohebi lacked much creativity, but then again, in Yamatai's ancient symbols and language, "Shiro" did mean "White," and "Hebi" meant "Snake." Which almost makes one feel bad for the living pun "Shirohebi" meant for the lamia and her sister.

Right now, the Elder Shirohebi was well aware of a massive force of humans marching through the Gold Region. She was also aware one of their smaller divisions did manage to traverse the mountains between Gold and Safina to reach the Sabasa Kingdom, but they were stopped and forced to retreat once the Vampires captured their leader.

Consider she herself was stronger than both Carmilla and Elizabeth, and the massive distance the Legion would have to cover between here and Yamatai, she felt like she and the others were probably going to be fine. Still... It was interesting. For all the violence and bloodshed these new humans have done, Shirohebi felt something off. They had no major vendetta against anyone here, unlike most of Sentora's wars where it was a conflict of hatred and petty greed. These legionnaires simply wanted war for the sake of glory, honor, and fame. Not for land or wealth, though they did help themselves to the spoils of war.

In all honesty, they weren't as mentally retarded as the standard human she met. Instead of being some pious, Ilias-worshipping terrorist who blindly hated monsters, this new group of humans only cared for what they needed and wanted. They felt like they had no real grudge against either human or monster, just a desire to fight and fulfill their nature.

She could respect that. Even if she hated humanity for kicking her out of Yamatai for no reason so long ago, she could at least respect them if they did or followed something respectable.

Though... She did sense some strange spirits had seemingly hitch-hiked with this group of humans to this world... At least two were notable. A apparition of death, and something _extremely_ evil...

She silently sweated upon noting that evil creature was rapidly fleeing from the Legion, and seemed to be eyeing up Yamatai as its new home.

 _I cannot foretell or see all futures or sense all beings... But one thing is certain. The balance of power between Ilias and the Monster Lord, the balance maintained before all four of the Great Human Kingdoms... Are going to collapse quite soon... For better or worse, who knows._

* * *

 _ **...**_

Lazarus chuckled as Lupton told him the good news.

"So, those monster fuckers in Grangold are going to get wiped out by the Legion? Serves those damn ingrates right for not killing their ant girls and making even more monsters," Lazarus laughed, "It seems Ilias finally had enough of their blasphemy."

"Indeed. We're also close to locating the God Bird Shrine. Soon we'll have the Garuda Egg, and by then, we'll control the means of transport between here and Hellgondo," Lupton informed, smirking. Both Terrorists quite liked this news of a Legion waltzing in and kicking everyone's asses... And somehow missing Gold Port in the process. It positively reeked of a miracle given to them by the Great Goddess... Or, at least that's what they thought.

"Heh... The Garuda... Not sure whether I want to just kill it to trap the powerful monsters that are already in Hellgondo, or to somehow swallow my pride and keep it for the day when we all siege and purge Hellgondo once and for all. Probably the latter, as disgusting as it is. Most noble monsters know how to teleport or fly anyways. Destroying the means of transport between Sentora and Hellgondo would only cripple our own chances for striking at the heart of the Monster Lord's power."

"That is true," Lupton responded, "Unless we find a way to get around the mountain borders of Hellgondo, the Garuda is the only way we have of actually getting into and attacking Hellgondo."

"Indeed... Perhaps the Goddess is sending us a message through these Legionnaires..." Lazarus mulled, "If only we could figure out how those knights are so powerful. Then we could take Hellgondo and send the monsters into chaos! But for now, all we should focus on is the Garuda Egg. Continue looking for it, and take it when we do find it."

"Understood, Leader Lazarus. It will be done!"

* * *

 _ **...**_

Vaal silently worked in his tower within the Legion's Magic City: Xibalba. He was currently testing his attempts at artificial life that he kept in tiny pockets of reality he held up with his magic. So far, they weren't really going so well. Just a bunch of pathetic, oversized amoebas in all honesty.

Unfortunately, he was not one to wait eons for these little potato-like creatures to start evolving into something impressive.

He began rapidly increasing the heat and temperature of the pocket world, until it was a hellish world with cracked and scorched earths, until lava burst from the world and wiped out all vegetation, until the creatures either adapted to his many trials and methods of execution or not.

"Vaal! Still tampering with life and playing god, as per usual," a deep voice boomed.

Vaal simply raised his head slightly, acknowledging the voice. "Centurion R. Emus. I presume you're ready for the experiments? Or are you here to bail out?"

"Bail out? Hardly. I conquered the Forest Labyrinth and Goliath itself. I can handle a few needles and magic spells prodding at my body," R. Emus remarked, "I'm more worried you're getting sidetracked and a tad bit too worried about your head mage losing that Trident of yours. What was it called again? The Trident of Terror?"

"Yes. I'm quite worried about it because it's the only artifact I managed to rip out of the 'hands' of some eldritch abomination."

"So? You bully and intimidate eldritch abominations all the time. Didn't you rip off some Moon Lord's hand and mount it on your wall as a trophy?"

"It was actually his eye and brain," Vaal corrected, "But yes, I did do that. The difference between him and the usual masses of tentacles that lurk around the cosmic spectrum is that this one was the source of all fear. Supposedly it was severely weakened long ago by an Elemental Sovereign and an ancient Demon Lord, but who knows? All I know is that Deatheye is still around, probably trapped in a mortal body in this world, but around nonetheless. And because of that, I don't want her reuniting with her only missing source of power."

"Fah. Sounds likes a bunch of bullshit to me. Like a cancerous tumor that should've been removed long ago," R. Emus simply remarked.

"She is a cancer. And I'll make sure to just kill her the next time we meet... But that's not important. Why are you here?"

"Simply checking up on you. I want to get this experiment over with and see how much stronger I get!"

"Typical Legionnaire thinking..." Vaal muttered, "Well, I'm about 57% done with testing the current theory I have for the new experiment. Hopefully this one will be both stable and powerful enough to test on you."

"Indeed. But I wouldn't mind too much if I lost my mind. It's probably nothing your magic can't fix."

"You assume that you have a mind to begin with..." Vaal muttered once more, "It probably isn't something I can't fix. But I'd rather not, because you'd wind up destroying Xibalba by the time I did fix your 'mind.'"

"Hey, didn't you destroy half of Xibalba fighting some bitch called Adramelech?"

 _Actually, that was an apoptosis trying to kill me to erase all traces of Julius..._ Vaal thought, "No, Adramelech was an accident. She came from the depths of the seas and went straight to me. Probably just an ancient creature awoken by my experiments and figured out I was the cause."

"... But you still destroyed half of Xibalba fighting her," R. Emus insisted, "And then there was the time you thought summoning a Chaos God was a good idea. What was that one's name? Black Alicefeeze?"

 _And that one just wanted to have tea with me, but we eventually wound up having a sparring match in a test of magic skills. She was a nice girl, truth be told._ "No, that was some other idiot's mistake. I traced the source and my magic identified it as 'Remina,' but I have no clue why she went to me."

"There was also the time you summoned a Dark Dream to this world. Nokturnus, if I remember right. Or Alduin. I don't remember what it was. Well, whoever he was, he was strong! Nearly wiped out the entire continent, but you banished him before it was too late."

 _I happened to piss off a friend of mine into pulling that shit. Vaskul, if I remember correctly. I didn't even know who Alduin was during that time..._ "Well, they only serve to prove why I'm the strongest magician the Legion has."

"Yeah... And why houses are so damn cheap here. I mean, shit. The only warrior-class Legionnaires that live here are either the really poor ones or the ones with the biggest balls in the Legion."

"You forget the fact that they're also cheap because all of us wizards can easily form magic crystals that fuel and hold the city up no matter how impossible the geometry is."

"Yeah right. There's an eldritch nightmare of some sort being summoned, breaking out, and wrecking havoc in Xibalba at least once a fucking week. Usually five or more."

"... I concede you have a point there."

"Damn right I have a point!" R. Emus said, "... But, I also do admit the magic does cheapen costs a lot here."

"I suppose we can agree to disagree," Vaal suggested.

"Agreed," R. Emus said, "Now, I suppose I'll be taking my leave now, since you've already told me about the progress you have so far on the experiment."

"Indeed... It would be best if you left... (You insufferable boneheaded jock...)" Vaal agreed, muttering the last part under his breath.

"Well, farewell for now. I'm off to go and see how the explorations in Death Mountain are going!" R. Emus laughed heartily, leaving Vaal in the sweet, quiet darkness of his tower...

* * *

 _ **...**_

Flavius sat in his private room, looking over his blunderbuss. It's been in his family line for generations now... And, though he didn't know its meaning, he knew that the engraving upon the firearm: "Tiburon," _must_ mean something... Maybe an ancestor from long ago? He didn't know.

He honestly preferred this life of philosophy and peace over the Legion's usual "bash heads in and claim bragging rights" motto. And unlike Vaal, he didn't like the idea of summoning Eldritch Abominations to classify and learn from or fight them. Leave the giant man with an octopus head and dragon wings alone, like a man with _common sense._

Of course, nobody cared to pay attention to him. "He's just a coward," they say, "He's more concerned with beauty and avoiding being a man," they said. Well, so what if he did like being alive!? Why shouldn't he want to keep himself attractive and decent? And even when he does lead their air forces, they never give him any credit...

But, at this point, he'd given up hope of ever getting past his nickname of "Flavius the Flatterer." Even Lord Zenith didn't seem to regard him with much respect, and that really dug deep into his moral and spirits. But... even then, he decided to keep on trying and going.

Right now, he was simply reading up about the ancient religion the Legion once held about that "Chicken-Winged Goddess." It seemed there was still a reliable translation of the archaic legionnaire language left over... Possibly because of their desire to remember ancient stories involving their later gods and heroes.

 _Hm... If I take one symbol at a time... and replace them with the modern letters of the alphabet... I get... 'I-l-l-i-a-s.' Huh. Curious. What kind of a name is Ilias?_

Flavius sighed, relaxing in his chair. So, apparently that Chicken-Winged God's name was "Ilias," if his translation was right. What a weird name. Ilias. He supposed that's where the Iliad was named.

Time passed, and a holy presence soon appeared within his room, flooding the room with a warm, bright light...

"Wh-what!?" Flavius shot up, instantly holding his blunderbuss at the source... When his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw it as some sort of woman with green hair...

"Who... What are you!?"

 _"Wait! I come in peace. Fear not human... Lower your weapon,"_ the woman said, raising her arms in a pacifying manner.

"... Huh?..." Flavius lowered his weapon, tilting his head. "You come in peace?"

 _"... Could you speak in a slightly less guttural and slow tone, please? Don't tell me there are monster girls on this continent as well..."_

"Hm?... Repeat yourself," Flavius simply said, pulling up his book. Why did her words sound so familiar?...

 _"What?"_ she simply said.

"... Ah. I see... How fascinating..." Flavius saw that the woman seemed to be speaking an archaic version of the Legionnaire's language, with some words slightly changed and the grammar a tad bit different. It was a good thing he practiced speaking it in his spare time to insult his fellow legionnaires without them understanding... _"Do. You. Under. Stand. Me?"_

 _"You... Speak my language?"_

 _"You... Under. Stand. Me?"_

 _"... Yes."_

 _"Oh-kay."_

 _"Why do you talk like that?"_

 _"Tall-kuh?"_

The Heavenly Being sighed, thinking about how a certain redhead would be far more suited to this task... _"Why. Do. You. Talk. Like. That?"_

 _"It. Is. How. Norm-Al. Tall-kuh-ing. Go-sss..."_

 _"Hmph. You will learn in time..."_ the Angel said, _"But. For now. Know my name. I am the First Great Seraph, Eden! Humble Servant of the Goddess!"_

 _"Eee-den... Serve-aph? Of God?..."_ Flavius was caught off-guard. No wonder why this woman didn't appear to be normal, yet not a monster. She was something much, much more...

 _"Yes... A Seraph of Goddess Ilias. The First."_

Flavius' eyes widened in astonishment. Why did such a great being appear before him!? _"Goddess... Ilias?... The Ancient One?..."_

 _"Your sect of humanity worshiped her at some point?"_ Eden quickly asked, but realized he wouldn't understand, and worded it more simply and slowly, saying: _"You. Once. Worshiped. Ilias?"_

 _"Yes. Long. A-Go. Most. Have. For-Gott-En... Onn-ly his-story, re-mem-brrs..."_

Eden seemed extremely troubled, but her face soon brightened up. _There's hope yet for this "Legion..." They can be guided back under Lady Ilias' gentle rule once more..._ She thought, smiling. But she still had quite a long journey ahead to make that happen... At least she got over the language barrier.

 _"Then... Would. You. Like. To. Meet. A. God?"_ Eden simply offered, her smile growing even wider when the man appeared more than willing to meet a genuine Goddess in the flesh...

* * *

Author's Notes:

Back yet again with another chapter. I admit, I'm a bit unsure about Typhon and Eden's sections in this chapter. Tell me what you all think in a review or a PM! Hopefully this one's decent, and doesn't shove the canon characters aside too much.

Anyways, there are some reviews to answer!

Fish on Land: Indeed. As I said, I would be mostly sticking to the VN's timeline of events, but I would be pulling a lot of elements and lore from Paradox. I have not changed the nature of Apoptosis, and Chaos is definitely lurking in the world. However, while the nature of Apoptosis isn't changed, the Chaos is slightly changed... Though, not by much. It is more like a beast rather than a force of nature, I suppose, but that hasn't been fully decided on yet.

Ah, thank you! I did hope that I did well in fleshing the more vile and "evil" monsters a bit more. And, as I've said, we have Paradox to thank for this. These monsters do reveal a lot more about themselves in their dialogue truth be told. It was only a matter of taking what ToroToro had left and making it into a part of their character and personalities to put them beyond being a simple "Evil(er) Rapist Luka Must Seal" and more of an actual living, thinking person.

Ah, Luka's Angel Halo... That'll be explained when we next get to him. Which should be quite soon, when I think about it. As for the Legionnaires having their bodies modified, well, that isn't really the case. Just more of physical evolution through many years of fighting and growing stronger. Apollyon didn't go to that extent out of fear for causing chaos to spread much faster with a bunch of apoptosis being created and roaming outside of a Tartarus.

Ultimate SMS Fan: I don't tend to have BGM unless it's for extremely vital or important parts in my fanfic. So, my apologies, but no. But feel free to put it in yourself whenever you're reading.

(Oh. And also, one of my friends also wanted to say something. I hold no relation or opinion to this: GregoryRJ8 - "I remember you from that one dead collab we tried to do and ended up ultimately dying. Could you, like, kindly not suggest stuff if you're not a part of the story? You're honestly not funny, Mr. Saitama Guy.")

My apologies if my friend was a bit blunt. He has a shorter fuse than me.

* * *

 _ **...**_

A formless blob of darkness gloomed in the new world. It hated being in the painful light, but wanted to feel the same warmth the others could.

It wanted to be like the humans.

It didn't want to be a monster anymore.

It wanted to join with them.

It wanted hair.

It wanted eyes.

It wanted to feel happy.

It wanted to feel sad.

It wanted to be able to curl its fingers, to feel the cold and the heat.

To know what the earth below her felt like, what the brisky breezes felt like.

It wanted to soak in the waters, to feel the same pleasures humans do.

It wanted to be just _like_ them.

Not like its previous creations.

Not like Ymir. Not like the Abyssal Dragon. Not like Jotun or Grendal.

It wanted real children. Real, thinking, feeling people.

Attractive people to brighten up the cruel world it spent so long suffering in.

It wanted to keep remembering a girl it had once watched.

How lovely that girl was. How happy she appeared to be. Alice, if she remembered right.

It missed Alice. Alice got too close to it. Got absorbed into its saddening and disgraceful form.

It swore to remember that human. It didn't want to be this blob of despair anymore.

It wanted to do something. Feel something.

First, came its tail, large, scaled, like a beautiful snake, with lovely and attractive red accents.

Then, came its body. Humanlike, elegant, with nice round mounds of fat that men seemed to like.

Sure, the arms were a bit strange and lizardlike, but it didn't care.

Finally, from the last parts of its former, depressing primal form, came its head.

It was shaped perfectly, emulating the most attractive women it ever saw. The hair was long, a silky white.

The horns were long, curved; beautiful and marvelous just like the roses.

Now, it needed a name, to be just like everyone else.

...

It wanted to keep remembering that poor girl that died to it.

So it took on the name of Alipheese. Alipheese Fateburn.

But this wasn't enough... It wanted more like itself. She needed more of her kind, that weren't monsters.

...

That's it!

Children!

She'll have Six of them. She didn't know what they'd look like, but she'll have them!

She even knew what she'll name them.

She'll name them: Tamamo-no-Mae, Saja, Minagi, Kanon, Kanade, and Hiruko.

Yes...

It wouldn't be alone anymore. _She_ wouldn't be alone anymore.

And this time, she'll create something right. She'll make more beautiful and lovely creations, just like herself...

Monster-Girls, she supposed. Or maybe Mamono? Who knew.

All that mattered was that she wasn't lonely anymore...


	7. A Succubus' Fantasy Come True

_**...**_

It did not know how long it spent in that cold hell.

For so long, it was the only color it saw. A piercing glow, in the infinite void.

It couldn't tell what it was supposed to be. Nor why it endured this torture.

In time, it finally saw something in the bleakness of this dark space.

 _H-hello!? Who are you?_

 **Who are you?... Help... It's cold...**

Neither could understand what the other said. Nor could they come into contact with each other.

It was a new kind of pain when they contacted each other. Unbearable. Terrifying.

The two stayed far away from each other. They never exchanged words again.

At least, not until a world was formed, and a war waged.

The Light drifted around, in the void, shivering. Suffering.

But that suffering proved something to it.

It can feel. It can think.

If it was suffering, then the very feeling of pain proved that it existed, that it lived.

And what was stopping other beings from experiencing the same state of existence it did?

It thought. It kept thinking. Meditating. Easing its own pains away until only a faint ache of pain echoed in its mind.

Until the only pain left was the lack of others around it.

But that would soon change.

It soon felt like it could... bargain, in a sense.

Shatter itself, and become... weaker, and in exchange, have others with that precious gift of thought.

The Light began to separate, and diffuse.

And where there was once one, there were now three.

The Firstborn soon realized that it looked exactly like the other two, despite its inherited mind from the original Light.

As well as its better might and power.

As such, it was superior to them.

So why should it look exactly like them?

It soon evolved itself, choosing a new form to make itself unique.

First came what it called wings. They were feathery; majestic, to its eyes.

It had ten at first.

But then it realized that was too much. Too clunky. Too... unnecessary.

As such, it took away eight of its wings, and made the remaining two bigger.

There. Much prettier.

Then, it formed what it called a "body."

There was a big lump in the middle, with four things shoved onto its sides and a little orb-thing stuck up on top.

It called these things "limbs." The upper two limbs were "arms," and the lower two were "legs."

That orb-thing shoved on top was a "head," with long protrusions swaying down from it. These protrusions were called "hair."

It liked its hair. Nice, long, luscious.

Eventually, it focused on refining its body more.

It made ears, fingers, toes, breasts, organs, and so much more.

Why? It didn't know. It felt like doing it. This feeling of control...

After spending so long just drifting around pitifully, with nothing, it just _needed_ this.

As such, it was addicted to this feeling of creation; of control.

And eventually, just messing with its own body wasn't enough.

The other two... the two that were formed when The Light diffused...

They weren't complete. They were... imperfect.

That would not do.

So, it took them. Snatched them right up.

And it toiled, working hard to make them just as perfect as it was.

However, they were different. A bit inferior.

Maybe their wings were a bit smaller...

Maybe their hair wasn't as purely accurate to light as their maker's were...

Maybe their chest was a bit lacking...

Maybe they both had a silly little glowing ring above their heads...

But.

Their pupils were the same shade of blue.

Their hair were similar in length (for the most part)

Their wings weren't different.

Their flesh and skin weren't different.

Their ears weren't that different.

They weren't as good as it was... Not as smart. Not as powerful. Not as mournful for the pitiful thing that was existence.

But they were similar to it in the end, and unique in their own aspects.

As such, it was content.

... But how would it interact with them?...

It didn't even know what _itself_ was.

It needed an identity.

Something to preserve its perfection and uniqueness for the ages.

A name.

It thought...

Light...

Li-las?

Lolias?

Ill-Ighty?

It kept thinking, until finally, it found one it liked:

 _Ilias._

Goddess Ilias, to be exact.

That's what it and the previous Light that fueled it and the other two's existence will be called.

And what about its two little creations?

Well...

Mikey?

Michael?

Makayla?

Micaela?

Yeah, Micaela worked in its mind. It'll give it to one of them right now...

As for the other...

Well...

Ruka?

Luca?

Luka?

Lukafer?

Lucifer?

Lucifina?

It liked Lucifina more than the others. Seemed more fitting for this one. Maybe it'll use Luka later on.

And now... it had two to accompany it.

And how it _loved_ them.

Finally, laughter, joy, tears, anger, pleasure, so many new thoughts and ideas that before, never revealed themselves to its woefully ignorant mind, experienced at last!

But it wanted more than that...

And it thought the other two wanted more too.

But they grew attached to each other. And it had an identity now.

It didn't want to diffuse again, and lose what it had gained.

So they wandered the cosmos, and in time, came to a grand source of Light, Heat, and... Air? Oxygen? Whatever that element was called.

Ilias called this source of light the "Sun."

And from it, came her thirdborn child...

She wasn't as good as the other two. Not as good. Not as fast. Not as smart.

Then again, it was a new existence, in a world that previously had almost nothing.

So, in Ilias' mind, this was a success.

Now, what to call this one?...

Three?

Oden?

Eden?

It decided on Eden. It was thinking that it was getting the hang of this "naming" thing now!

And the other two, Micaela and Lucifina...

Well, they soon found it was quite fun to tamper and mess with Eden.

They never really tried pulling on hair, poking at eyes, punching, kicking, pinching, tickling, biting, or anything else for that matter.

The two didn't want to really do that to each other. And Ilias' power made it impossible for them to try it on her.

So, Eden was the natural test subject.

They never knew hair caught on fire so easily, or that plucking the feathers off of their wings made them look smaller.

Eden's wings never did grow to their full size, in hindsight.

They never knew freezing things made them look blue either.

Eden's head wings still felt a bit frosty, even today.

They definitely didn't know that burning parts usually scarred them. Good thing freezing them usually put them out.

Eden never did paint or will her other wings to be discolored from the usual white for no reason.

But, for those two, it was all in good fun and joy.

For Eden... Well, nobody cared about her.

To her sisters, she was just someone to try new things on, consensually or not.

To Ilias herself, she was just an attempt at life created from the Light of the Sun rather from herself.

As time passed for Ilias and her kin, she soon made more angels.

They never reached Eden's strength, much less Micaela or Lucifina's, but they were still living, thinking beings.

As such, success!

In time, Ilias eventually lost interest in making more angels. It got too repetitive. Too boring.

Now to make new things!

She took herself and her gathering of angels to various worlds in the cosmos, until, finally, they found a new world.

It was brimming with life. A true paradise.

However... Ilias quite liked those tiny monkeys, and apes, and big gorillas more.

And those giant lizards were kind of clogging up all the room in the earth, and making it hard for the mammals to live.

Well, that was of no issue.

These oversized lizards were no match for her or her angels, and soon, they were all gone.

The meteor Ilias sent crashing into the Earth didn't help either.

One could say that's why the Moon exists, but in truth, it had been orbiting the Earth long before the Dinosaurs.

But that was irrelevant.

Now?

Creation time.

She tried taking a direct approach at first, trying to directly modify and change the mammals directly.

Bad idea.

They either died of too much light and energy, or they turned into freaks. Powerful freaks.

That would not do.

So, she suppressed these genes in her future ideal creations. Just a bunch of failed prototypes...

Now... She just focused on making them better.

And in time, she did.

How pretty they were. Not as pretty as her, of course, but still so, so, so very pretty...

Especially those strange variations of her creations. Males, she had called them.

She never really knew how to make one or that they even existed, since all she had to go off of was herself and her angels.

But, she found out that these males naturally lived as a sort of partner for the females.

It was all complex and hard to take in, but Ilias got the gist of it.

And soon, she found out what they did to make more of themselves...

She wondered how it felt. Probably pretty pleasurable, if it's a required function for them.

But for now, that didn't matter...

What mattered was their name.

Well, she discovered a new body type with a new unique organ on them, and they were called Males, which could be called Man, as such...

She called them " _Humans._ "

She kept them relatively fearful and cautious at first. She didn't want to be too direct and pressuring for their conscious at first.

Nor did she need them learning too fast for their own good.

Yet, a certain little runty angel had given fire to these creations anyways.

That would not do.

She didn't want fire to be given to the humans! Not yet! They weren't ready for this precious gift!

But it couldn't be taken back now.

So, she simply locked up that traitorous angel, keeping her in a cave where she didn't have to see her insufferable redheaded visage.

And now...

It was time to see about slowly guiding and seeing what she could do with these humans.

But, all good things must end, and it did when she heard of a strange thing going on...

The Humans called them "Monster-Girls."

They were made by that same Darkness it had met, so long ago.

How depraved and vile they were.

Raping men, devouring women, enslaving children, pillaging and tearing down all her humans' hard work...

Simply unforgivable.

These Monster-Girls didn't even have males of their race either! No men to keep the Balance! And since they were the ones giving birth...

Well, it was only a matter of time before all her hard work was torn away.

Therefore, she needed to exterminate them, before they exterminated her.

She didn't want to be too on-the-nose about it though. Just have rules dictating that her creations should not interact with the Monster-Girls.

Well, until she finally caught wind about a particular settlement she liked.

Babylon, as the humans called it.

That was now gone.

Apparently, a direct descendent of the Darkness known as "Minagi" completely wiped out the city.

And then she heard about another one, "Kanade," who herded entire towns of humans as _livestock._

"Kanon" was no better, consuming and turning humans into Plant Cores for whatever reason.

And "Saja..."

Apparently a jealous rapist herself, just like the others.

Except she takes it far more personally when even a married man rejects her.

These Monsters...

They cannot be allowed to exist anymore. Not a second more.

This was not a new race moving in and just being dominated by immoral beings. This was an infestation of parasites.

Therefore, it was time to purge them.

Ilias took her first three children— The Seraphs, and made them have complete authority over the lesser angels.

And with some other preparations...

She decided it was time to begin a Holy War for the sake of her creations.

* * *

 _ **...**_

Julius donned his new armor, trying it out.

 _"Well, how is it?..."_ Apollyon said, eager to see if her teaching had any end result.

"... I can't fucking breathe. And I feel like if I fall over, I'm not getting back up. My back can't handle this. My _everything_ can't handle this. And I can't bend my knees or elbows."

 _"So?... Can't you move them like my tentacles?"_

"No you tentacled blob of idiocy! I feel like a crude stickman, except I'm made out of metal, not wood! Why did I even agree to weld the gauntlet with the forearm piece? Now I can't even move my wrists! I need that for my fighting style!"

 _"Huh. I guess humans are much more limited than I remember them being."_

"Fuck off," was all Julius said. Normally, yes, he'd be much more polite in telling people why their ideas sucked, but in all honesty, Apollyon was a _very_ bad teacher. One that knew what she was doing, but sorely lacked empathy or foresight. And this was supposed to be a "smart" apoptosis...

 _Good Lord, I never thought I'd say this, but I hope to Ilias that I never meet her kin if she's supposed to be one that's self-aware and intelligent._

"Mmph... Your ideas are good, they just aren't executed right. Nor do you compensate for them. 12 extra layers of steel still isn't equal to one layer of mithril or some higher high-class ore or metal. Now, 12 layers of mithril or oriciulum, that'll be where something good can happen. But, at the same time, I can't even bend my arms or legs. We have to forsake some protection in exchange for lighter and more flexible materials. Like dragon scales or something like that. And it's still pretty hard to breath in this thing while talking at the same time... Can you take it off now? Please?"

 _"No,"_ Apollyon responded, _"Though, now that I actually think about it, you do hold some merit in your words. Unexpected for a human. The sheer weight is my way of naturally increasing you humans' strength and power... If you all can naturally run in armor 50 or more pounds heavier than you, you're going to be much stronger and faster. At least, that's how it worked for some tests I did on my kin before I decided that was a poor choice because of how widely one apoptosis can differ from another."_

"I suppose humanity will adapt... That's what training is for. Smack a man in the face with a stick enough times and he'll eventually learn to either dodge it or block it. Maybe some enchantments to improve protection would also do... Or to help the person see and sense things, somehow..."

 _"Ironically, that was what I was about to suggest. I know some magic spells that can be permanently infused with armor that can assist the five senses and... How shall I put it... 'loosen' the metal around the joints so that it isn't completely rigid and stiff. Perhaps even more enchantments for defense against heat, frost, lightning, acid, among others..."_ Apollyon mused.

"Yes, that _might_ be something that I oh so desperately need..." Julius remarked, causing Apollyon to sigh.

 _"I thought that Dragon Pup taught me well... I suppose not all smithing techniques apply well to other races. Ah well. At least this land is rich in raw materials and metals..."_

"Indeed. It seems as if the Monsters only pick off tainted and crude outcrops of ore they find, assuming they're intelligent enough to even know how to craft tools and weapons in the first place. The best they've savenged is from our own dead soldiers, which in itself is a bad idea considering how frail our armor-forging is compared to our more experienced sword-crafters..."

 _"I see... This land isn't a normal occurrence in most timelines, as such, you'll have to guide me when dealing with the land's natives and creatures... For all intents and purposes, this is just a brand new anomaly in the space-time continuum."_

"What?"

 _"Ugh, nevermind... Just remind me of everything that goes on in this strange land, alright?"_

"Oh, sure, as soon as you, you know, _get me out of this metal coffin."_

 _"Yes, yes... I'll get you out of this failed experiment..."_

* * *

 _ **...**_

In the modern day, a succubus giggled softly as she floated in the ruins of an old temple once dedicated to Alipheese I. She had expected massive deaths at some point, allowing at least one of them freedom, yes, but for it to not have been by Ilias' hands?

Well, she had to admit, whoever directed and led these bands of superhumans must be one _hell of a man_.

And, as expected from the progenitor of succubi, that aroused her. How could it not? Anything with a vestige of entertainment and power deeply intrigued her...

Even if it was a female instead, she could work with that. She could go either way, she wasn't bound strictly by one gender and organ.

 _Still... To have killed so many monsters to the point of unsealing me, even if in this diminutive state..._ she thought with slight concern in her mind. She knew she didn't quite fully come back yet. There wasn't enough darkness permeating the atmosphere for her to make a full, complete revival yet.

As such, the Great Whore of Babylon, Progenitor and Great Ancestor of the Succubi, Elves, Vampires, and many others, Minagi!...

Was about as tall as a child and flatter than Remina after Ilias' angels were through with it.

This did not sit well with the Succubus, obviously. She did not like being a titless runt _at all._ Oh sure, there was some appeal in there... But only for like, pedophiles and Ilias' priests. And even she had standards, most of which drew the lines at distorting her sexy, perfect figure or involving some weird twisted fetish even she felt disgusted by.

On the bright side, she could at least practice martial arts more easily without her chest constantly bouncing in the way, and the fact that her children, like Lilith, Astaroth, and Morrigan, were all still sealed made her feel much more free and less burdened by the "Ideal Succubus" so many people pinned her to be...

 _Ah, finally free from all those tiresome chores, duties, and supposed "ideal" being that so many of my creations thought of me as... And best of all, no Alipheese telling me what to do~!_

She hummed happily, swinging her legs like a child as she sat on a ledge of the temple. So many new possibilities and futures for her to take! Would she make a dramatic return to save her creations? Destroy the nations of mankind? Join up with those superhumans? Become the new Monster Lord? See who was the current Succubus Queen? Oh, the choices were infinite!

And that's exactly what she treasured most. Free Will. To be able to survive and prosper on your own, without someone else restraining or keeping you from something you could do, just because it might wind up badly or they didn't agree with it.

To have Free Will was to already be infinitely closer to becoming something akin to a God. To be able to decide without outside laws or commands, to be able to act on your own will, and to feel and perceive with what you learned and found out instead of being indoctrinated and brainwashed.

It was one of the reasons why Alipheese I never sought to truly punish or control her and her sisters. It would've made them not unlike Ilias' puppets and pawns that she called "Angels."

Well, Minagi did suppose it was... lonely, in a sense. Being up at the top with nothing to rival or contest them, to give them proof that their own Will mattered in the world... It was maddening. No one to survive their power, their love, nor anyone to truly understand their perceptions and feelings about the world.

She sighed. Now she was sad, and so soon into her return to the world at that! She hated being sad. Always reminded her of the story Alipheese I once told her and her sisters about the little girl that their creator once played with, only to wind up being accidently killed and devoured by Alipheese's overwhelming power. Even if it held a moral and lesson that their own power could easily do something they couldn't take back, it was still... depressing, to reminisce about.

 _... Aw, now I miss teasing Hiruko, and gossiping with Saja and Kanon, and fishing with Kanade, and learning a bit with Tammy..._ Minagi sighed, sulking quietly now, _... I guess that's how life works. Then again, Tammy did seem fairly brave and confident when we all being sealed... Maybe she slipped out!?_

Minagi felt optimism fill her as she thought more about it, _Yes, of course! It all makes sense! No wonder why Alipheese was so confident and assured Ilias would never truly win! Tammy's still out there keeping up the fight!_

 _But... I can't face her when I look like this... I've got to regain my power, and my influence over the world..._ Minagi smiled. Now she knew what her goal was from here... Find her brethren, establish herself as a powerful succubus that was _totally_ not related to the Great and Magnificent Minagi, and hope she eventually stumbles into the current Monster Lord's Court.

 _... Still, I can't shake off the distinct feeling something **evil** is heading towards Yamatai... _

Whatever was heading there, was something... she couldn't even identify. It was a Monster, yes, but there was no "Girl" to it at all... Like some sort of Demon...

She gulped. That thing... While probably weaker than her...

Still managed to send chills down her spine.

* * *

 _ **...**_

The Vampire Queen hummed in slight interest as Carmilla reported back to her.

"To think he could bring Elizabeth to that state... It certainly is a good thing you brought back her and him back so soon after that. She might've suffered some sort of disability or perhaps even death if you took too long. But now, she'll recover... And now I feel too guilty to not compensate her somehow for all of that. Probably a painting of one of the Six Ancestors... Expensive, to be sure, but it'll cheer her up," the Queen said, concerned for Elizabeth's life and wellbeing.

"Yeah..." Carmilla looked off to the side, "Perhaps an armor stand too?..."

"Oh? Why is that?" Fatima said in slight intrigue.

"I just figured Eliza might like a stand to put that knight's impressive armor on for display, right? Like, it'd be a nice trophy to show in her gallery..." Carmilla suggested, fidgeting. She wasn't used to talking to the Queen without Elizabeth by her side, and she was a bit worried she might be too informal or make herself look like a complete idiot instead of a simple ditz in front of the Queen.

Fatima brought a finger and thumb to her chin, thinking over the idea. "I suppose that's fair enough. Even if you did incapacitate the knight, Elizabeth was the one who fought and could have beaten him had she not been careless and let him slam her into a burning building."

"Yay~!" Carmilla smiled, happy that the Vampire Queen accepted her idea.

"Now, as for the knight himself..." Fatima frowned slightly, "I admit, he's not like any other human I've had to deal with in my long time as ruler. Doesn't speak our language, refuses to break under either torture or rape, and most definitely strong enough to strangle and kill most of the guards if left alone... Not a man I'd fancy keeping around for very long unless I find something out about him soon."

Carmilla nodded, "He's not as dangerous without his weapons or armor... But I would either send him to the Monster Lord or try to... I don't know, give him back to the others? Try to get something from the other knights while giving them their commander back?"

"I wouldn't be too keen on sending him back to the horde of knights... Not unless there was no other choice. Alipheese might get something out of him... But she's always been a weak-hearted ruler, just like her mother. We haven't had a single decent ruler since the Eighth, and nowadays they're even encouraging us to live together, equally, with humans. How pathetic! The Vampires are the Nobles of the Night, we don't let some lowly human stand side-by-side with us as husbands or champions without a good reason! The only reason we would ever have to treat any human as something other than a peasant to guide and rule or enemy to kill or enslave is if they truly did help expand and glorify our aristocracy..."

"Yeah! Why must the Monster Lord be so weak-willed? She's only 22... Barely even a youngling by the standards of elder monsters like ourselves..." Carmilla mused.

"Indeed... That foolish fox should've simply allowed some other intelligent ruler to fill in the position until she could teach that brat more thoroughly. Now, we're stuck with a glutton trying to push for 'coexistence' while doing nothing at all... It is no wonder why so many kingdoms have begun to ignore and become independent from the Monster Lord now. I still remember back when Kurobara of the Black Triad and Alipheese the Eighth were around when I just beginning my reign as the new Vampire Queen... That was when the Monster Lords were truly worthy of ruling over all of us. Now...?" Fatima sighed in disgust, "I just bear through Alipheese the Sixteenth's foolish policies and attempts to bring us all closer to humanity, and like many others, just find loopholes or blame 'renegade monsters' to ignore it all. To think the Black Triad and Eighth would, in five hundred years' time, come to be replaced by the 'Four Heavenly Knights' and Sixteenth... Monsterkind has fallen far from its former glory."

"Mhm, it's a pity..." Carmilla said sadly, "And unfortunately, none of us have the power to usurp or force her out..."

"Indeed... As far as I know, Cassandra could defeat the Fifteenth... But I'm unsure if even she could stand up to the Sixteenth... Truly, an almighty idiot reigns over us all."

Fatima sighed, "But we've gone far, far off-topic. The knight hasn't talked or said anything that we can understand at all, and he's just as arrogant and prideful as ever even after torture and rape... But what is a man, but a miserable little pile of secrets!? We'll break him in time, and we'll learn everything he knows... Then we'll make our decision about how we manipulate or approach this Legion..."

* * *

 _ **...**_

A Legionnaire grunted, finally waking up in a strange area. It seemed to be a jail of some sort.

It remembered being beaten by some purple-haired brat... How dishonorable. Should've kept his guard up and that bullshit wouldn't have happened.

He sighed. Well, no helping it now, he figured as he raised his left hand to scratch his head...

Only to feel a stump. And what felt like scar tissue instead of metal.

Ah, right. His arm was chopped off at around midway through the forearm. Well shit. And things seemed a bit harder to focus and perceive now so... Double shit. He was lacking a shield-arm and an eye. And he noted he was dressed in only a rather light and thin set of clothing. Triple shit.

So, beaten by a runt, thrown in jail, having all of his armor taken from him, and now lacking in a shield arm and eye. The others probably retreated, so he was probably the only guy left in this sandbox these runty humans called a city.

Needless to say, he was pretty damn pissed, and promptly got up, testing the bars that kept him locked up. He knew he could punch through these guards' shitty armor pretty easily and knew anatomy well enough to hold his own against most of them unless they learned tactics for once and made it hard for him to pick them off one by one.

The Bars seemed pretty easy to break through. The tops and bottoms of most of them were rusting, so he could probably take one and fashion it into a crude javelin of sorts, or a staff if he was unlucky. He just needed time to recuperate, and then he'd break out and start making a beeline towards the Legion Port off in the "Gold Region," as Optio Agrenor claimed the other area was called on the map.

He'd also make it a point to hunt down that kid that beat him up.

Yeah... He'd pulverize the little shithead and make it a point to him to never mess with a Legionnaire...

Where that kid was, he had no clue. Probably fled like most humans in this strange land typically do and went off to some other town or city. That's fine, it'll be much more fun to hunt him down... In fact, he decided it was more important to reclaim his honor and beat the fool down first. He couldn't go back to his people knowing he had been disgraced by a mere runt.

But, right now, he'd just relax, and bide his time... Shouldn't take too long to recover anyways. The sword didn't hurt him nearly as much as he thought it would.

* * *

 _ **...**_

Luka yawned as he and Alice walked the roads from Safina to Noah. Now that he had dealt with saving the Princess, defeating Lily, gaining Gnome's power, and _somehow_ helping to defend Sabasa and defeat that one hulking knight, he felt like he was good to start off walking to the Noah region and helping the people out there, and hopefully gaining Undine's power and assistance.

Of course, he'd inevitably fight some Monster-Girls along the way, and that was fine. He knew he needed the practice anyways.

"Say, Alice..." Luka remembered something, "I wanted to ask you something."

"Hm? What is it?" the lamia responded, "If it's why I didn't interfere in the invasion, then it's pretty simple: As Monster Lord, I can't just go off and attack a completely foreign nation unless they attack or make their intentions clear first. Was that it?"

"Well, yeah, but I had another question," Luka said, "I was wondering about Angel Halo. How does it really work? I never really gave it much thought, but when I think about it, I just wonder how it really works and how it was made."

"Oh, that? Supposedly it was made by a Fallen Archangel who gave it to a Legendary Hero," Alice mused, "As I've said, it was made from 666 Angels, though why it looks like that and can still somehow cut things is beyond me. Don't question the maker's logic when they added wings, eyes, and small appendages to the blade of the sword."

Luka shrugged, "I mean, it somehow works, so I'm fine with it. What works, works. But what I really want to know about is how the whole sealing thing works. I fought a Knight back in that invasion, and I know I cut off his arm and gouged out an eye before he finally... Well, I don't know if he died or got sealed."

Alice hummed, "Did you truly desire to end him? Like, did you deal the finishing blow intending to kill him on the spot?"

"No, not really... In fact, the only reason I aimed for his head was because the fight was dragging out and I needed to help the guards."

"Well, then it's likely you just sealed him then. Like Monsters, Humans have magic that can be sealed. It's one of the major reasons why some monsters eat humans along with the occasional strong monster-girl, in fact. It's to take what little magic power they have. Now, even though Humans usually are unable to cast spells or perform other wizardly acts without an outside source or intense training and meditation, they can still be sealed just because they have that tiny amount of mana like all living beings do," Alice said, thinking deeply and recollecting what she knew of Angel Halo.

"Now that I think more about it, it's not all good however. Due to how small their magic pool usually is, humans can't recover as well as monsters when they're sealed. You said you chopped off a part of his arm and an eye, right? He's not getting them back when he recovers. Let's propose you... I don't know, chopped off a Spider Girl's leg. She'll recover that just fine when she gets unsealed, it's not like she'll be forced with live with only seven legs for the rest of her life. But chop off a human's leg? Unless they're a mage with a decent amount of power, they're going to be unsealed with only one leg. Get what I'm saying?"

Luka frowned, a bit uneasy. "I see... So it does work, more or less, on a human just as it would with a monster-girl... What about major organs like the heart?"

"Oh, that? Probably just forces the human to spend much longer in a sealed state before they recover. It's likely lost tissues and some organ damage would cause major scarring."

"Alright... But what about what they look like when they're sealed?"

"Hey, idiot, ever heard of an Elf?" Alice deadpanned, "Elves are closely related to humans, and you saw what they get sealed into."

Luka awkwardly looked off to the side, remaining silent.

"... Ugh," Alice shook her head as she slithered along the path, "They're sealed into tiny or child versions of themselves. Same applies to humans. Except for when you deal a particularly lethal blow, such as a stab to the heart or bisecting them, in which case they get sealed into scarecrows for a much, much longer time. Since you stabbed that one knight in the eye to take him down, I suspect you sealed him into a scarecrow, though how long he'll stay sealed is... unknown, to me. Not because I believe the knights to be wizards, but because I don't know whether these new foreign humans have inherently bigger mana pools than the humans from here. I'm pretty sure he at least lost that eye though. Recovering major, but nonvital organs like eyes takes a lot of mana to perform... by human standards."

"Hm... I see..." Luka mused, a bit discomforted by what he learned. So he could go all in with Monster-Girls, they'd be completely fine except for maybe a broken pride, but humans like that knight he had to be much more cautious with... "I hope I won't repeat that same mistake again..."

"You'll probably have to do it more than a few times if these knights keep up their current attitude and warlike behavior," Alice remarked, "Besides, would you rather just outright kill them?"

"... Yeah, I guess you have a point Alice... Still, to be heavy enough to ignore Sylph's Winds and make me have to rely on Gnome and random Luck... Just shows that I need more training to achieve my dream!" Luka said, before noticing Alice was mysteriously gone...

"Ara, ara, what's a little boy like you doing out here all alone~?"

Luka sighed. Back to fighting the usual monster-girl out in the middle of nowhere... He supposed even when something as big as a foreign nation just popping up and invading out of nowhere just happened, some things never change.

* * *

 _ **...**_

The Spider Princess scoffed as she paced around the hallways of Castle Gold, not quite liking the massive, open areas. Especially when the gaudy decorations were shiny and bright, and occasionally bore the image of that insufferable Goddess Ilias.

"I must say, King Grangold, you could at least improve your taste in art and sculpture..." Charlotte commented, "I take the time to come out of my cave and mobilize my entire clan to go here to help you defend your lazy nation, and you can't bother to at least some form of comfort or payment to my poor little arachnes?"

"Oh please," the King remarked with a sarcastic tone, "Your idea of 'comfort' or 'payment' would either involve me bankrupting everyone or giving each of your arachnes a man to feast on, rape, and otherwise treat as a fucktoy. You can collect your payment for after the invaders are driven off."

Charlotte narrowed her eyes, "I'll hold you to your word, King Grangold, just as I'll uphold my own word and promise."

"Of course, of course... I believe you've been updated as to where most of the knights are headed, yes?"

"But of course. It was the first thing I demanded to know when I got here," Charlotte answered, "I'm well aware they're currently holed up nearby Lady's Village where Lord Cassandra rules. They'll either come out alive, somehow, or dead."

"Huh? Why's that? Lady's Village is tiny and unremarkable from what I remember..."

"That—, I... Nevermind. It's nothing, just... A mistake, was all. I was thinking of some other place," the Princess quickly answered, confusing King Grangold greatly.

 _So, even the King of Grangold is unaware that you're one of the strongest monsters in the world right on his doorstep, huh Cassandra? My, you've always been good at being sneaky after Alipheese XV kicked your ass..._ Charlotte thought to herself, giggling at the circumstances. She had been friends with Cassandra for quite some time, due to their similar worldviews and treatment of humans and monsters alike. Even if Cassandra was stronger than her, Charlotte was willing to overlook that and still admire the Nereneid for upholding her family's legacy and fame. She had heard Cassandra's daughter was a different story however...

 _If only we could have a Nereneid as Monster Lord, then maybe monsters could dominate and finally crush these inferior humans and rule, and I could become Insect Queen again!..._ Charlotte thought, the thought of insect queen happening to remind her of a certain pest...

"Say, King, where is the Queen Ant by chance? I want to mock—, er, I mean, 'have a nice long pleasant talk with her,'" Charlotte questioned.

"Oh, Antine-Ann?... She's still stuck in our Magic-Laboratory. I suppose I can let you two talk for a while..." the King said, "But didn't you say I should kill her?"

"Ohohoho, _nooo,_ I did not! What makes you say that?" she said in a sarcastic tone, rolling her eyes.

The King looked confused, missing the sarcasm entirely, "Bu-but you were quite insistent and demanding that I do that..."

"Ah, you must've been daydreaming you oaf! I would _never_ , not in a _thousand years_ tell my _mortal enemy to go fuck herself and pray that she died and got tortured every fucking day in the afterlife by angels._ "

The King was quiet for a bit, "... I don't think I should let you—"

 _"Let me mock her. Now."_

"Bu-but, she might have valuable experience—"

 _"You want my help or not?"_

The King gulped, before hesitantly nodding, "Ye-yeah, right this way, I'll lead you right to her..."

Charlotte smirked smugly. Oh, how she was going to love this!

 _ **...**_

The Spider Princess immediately began to giggle... And then fell over, bursting out in laughter when she saw the Queen Ant trapped in Grangold's sealing technology.

The King awkwardly shrugged and signed _Good luck,_ to Antine-Ann before quietly leaving.

Antine-Ann looked confused, before resuming an unhappy and annoyed face. "Oh, wonderful. He brought _you_ here to mock me now?"

"Ah, hardly. I forced him to lead me to you here, so I could see you lying around here, gathering up dust and rotting away while your ant girls are worked to the bone trying to train themselves and the soldiers for the inevitable invasion of knights that are coming..." the Spider Princess giggled, "Oh, this is _delicious!_ I'll treasure this moment for the rest of my life!"

"Ugh..." the Queen Ant groaned, before noting something. "Wait. Knights? As in foreign invaders?"

"Yes, of course. What else would I be referring to? This nation's soldiers?" Charlotte said with a biting tone, "Honestly... Even you should be able to piece together some idea of what's going on in the outside world."

"He... He wasn't lying to me?" Antine-Ann said, shocked.

"Are you assuming that stupid oaf can even lie that well in the first place?" Charlotte remarked.

The Queen Ant remained silent, before falling down and holding her head in shame, "I... I thought..."

"Oooh! The Queen Ant, finally realizing what a moron she has been this whole time! You know, had you not usurped me in the first place, you wouldn't even be here, for it would have been my duty as Insect Queen to lend my aid to any troubled Insect Colony, buuut now I'm the Spider Queen, and I can just relax and watch both you and Miria rot and die as your colonies get eradicated!"

"What?" Antine-Ann perked up at the mention of the Queen Bee, "What about her? What's going on with Miria!?"

"Ooh, as defensive as ever for that weakling I see!" the Spider Princess giggled, "Well, don't worry. Last I heard, she was locked in war with the plants of Plansect Village... Though I did hear she was having to deal with the Canaan Sisters, who for a colony as small, unambitious, and meek as hers... Heh, well, I guess she too regrets usurping me now... Why, I remember she sent me a letter, and I bet I was her last hope of survival! But, as you can see, I'm here mocking you instead of being in Plansect Village."

Antine-Ann remained silent, signs of tears coming to her eyes, "Why must everything be taken from us while you prosper?... We've been noble, fair, and kind to our subjects, while you're nothing but a cold-hearted tyrant who wants the whole world to dance and die to her will... Why does the world have to ruin and tear down even Miria?..."

"It's because I have the will and power to survive. You and Miria lived thinking that if you treated others fairly and kindly, then the world would be kind and fair in turn... What a foolish concept! This world will bring nothing but suffering upon anyone and anything it can, and the only way to get what you want is to take it by force with your own two hands! So is the way to become Monster Lord, and so is the way to establish a new kingdom or empire. The Old Spider Queen in her youth and former Harpy Queen Refletsia understood this quite well, but it seems you two don't. And now, it matters more than ever, with the barbarians that have been burning and conquering everything just because they have the power and skill to do so..."

The Ant Queen looked bitterly at the Spider Princess past all her tears for finally learning what happened in the world, shouting out, "You've always blindly followed and licked the boots of those in power! All you've ever known is to follow the strongest side! I would even bet you'd marry the leader of those damn barbarians if he proved himself stronger than you like so many other simpler monsters who held no standards! You're just like Cassandra, nothing but a power-hungry and petty brat who wants everyone to serve her every demand and desire... But at least Cassandra had enough courage to try and fight the Fifteenth Monster Lord when the time came!"

The Spider Princess remained silent about the fight for the Monster Lord position, only saying, "Hm... Well, who knows? That might be a bet I make with him if I were to ever meet him. You are right about power... I do follow those who have it. Power is all that matters in the long run, that and willpower. And right now, the current Monster Lord only has power. She doesn't have the will to force her laws of 'coexistence' onto anyone... She doesn't have and never will have the willpower and mind needed of a true ruler required to reign in and control monsterkind! It's already showing in the face of these events... 'wait and bide our time' she says, 'let us try to make peaceful contact with them first' she says, what garbage! Many kingdoms are already practically independent from her laws and controls, and fairly soon the Monster Lord will become a laughingstock! She could never fill in the position Black Alice left for every other Monster Lord after her to fulfill and glorify. So, I suppose you are right, Antine-Ann! I would follow that Legion if they had an actual ruler who had the power and will to enforce things and could take me down in combat!"

Antine-Ann paused, before shaking her head in disgust, "And here I thought you couldn't fall any further, Charlotte..."

"Well, quite clearly I haven't fallen to where you are yet. I might not be Insect Queen anymore... But at least I'm not Grangold's cocksleeve," the Spider Princess shot back, before turning around, "Farewell, Antine-Ann. I'll make sure to relish and enjoy every time I see one of your Ant Girls chopped apart in the battlefield, even if they are supposed to be my 'ally.'"

 _ **...**_

The King was waiting outside, slightly nervous, "So, how did it go?..."

Charlotte scoffed, "Nothing important. Let's move onto more important things... Where are the Legionnaires headed now?"

"I believe they're going to either head to here, or Fort Gold... They might aim for Fort Gold if they see it first, because it happens to be positioned and _looks_ like it's more fortified than here in Grangold."

"Then I'm taking my arachnes to Fort Gold. I'll have a squad of my fastest Huntsman-Spider Girls catch their attention and lead them towards Fort Gold, and fight them there. If I win? Good, they'll be finished. If I lose? They'll likely press onwards and wind up in the Noah Region, where they'll no longer be your problem for a while."

"I-I see... Then go on, and do so at once. (I'm sure your spider-girls have already tried or have eaten some of my civilians already, so it's a blessing in disguise to have you weaken them away from here,)" the King said, muttering the last part without her hearing it.

"Right, then I shall be off, remember our agreement..." the Spider Princess said, pacing off to find and gather up her clan to relocate and prepare to fight the horde of knights...

* * *

 _ **...**_

Zenith grumbled as he fumbled with a small book, attempting to try and understand the writing on it. Apparently some monster prisoner with snake hair in the Port City had written some stuff down, and a Legionnaire copied it onto a book, and eventually the prisoner just wrote down pages upon pages of things to do while the guards drew crude pictures and said something while pointing at them. The guards said they kept the others from doing anything at all to prevent potential breakouts, so perhaps the prisoner wrote this massive book out of boredom and hoping to get some trust? Who knows.

It definitely resembled some of the more archaic writing in the older books in the library, but the way he had to pronounce it... That was hard. He had to keep repeating a word just to get it right, and hope to Julius that when he combined it with another word that it sounded right to the locals' ears. It would be bad if the Lord of the Legion introduced himself as "Legion the of Lord" or something far worse.

But, nevertheless, he didn't like staying around in this Port City with nothing to do until Centurion Archon returned, so he just took the Thirteenth Legion and began marching towards the general direction of unconquered territory. He was sure he'd come across a new place _eventually._ And he was sure the Legion back at home would be just fine with Deity Caligula managing the whole place with Flavius and Vaal. Not like a new Ymir would just pop up out of nowhere and cause havoc...

... On second thought, he did hope that would happen. Gives the guys back at home something to bash while he working the dust off his sword and mace over here.

 _Hm... so_ _this means that, and that means this... The number system seems to be the same... Hm... So many bizarre things so close yet somehow different here... Like how every damn Monster Prisoner there has been reported for attempted rape at least **once**_ _. Why rape?... Why not slash out their throats? Are they so desperate to breed that they'll rely on human males? And why was there only female monster prisoners? Our forces keep saying they only encounter female monsters with human lures, but that can't be right... Surely there must be male monsters in this land, just as there were in the original continent. This whole damn place is one massive mindfuck... But at least war seems to work the same here... Except Archon already took out most of the villages and forts and cities... Ugh... I might head down to this "Noah Region" if this keeps up... In fact, I think I will head down to the Noah Region. Seems to be ripe for some conquest... Call me selfish, but early bird gets the worm, and only Luzbel was smart enough to come with me to find new conquests while the others lie around in boredom..._

With that line of thought in mind, Zenith figured he'd go off and lead his army over to the Noah Region in hopes of finding something alive to hack apart...

* * *

 _ **...**_

Typhon grunted as he rounded up the last of the Goblins, Gremlins, Imps, and other small monsters he could find. He had already started to force the monsters of Death Mountain under his idea of a "Brotherhood" to counter the humans' "Legion."

Of course, none of them were willing to hear it.

So he kicked their ass. And sometimes killed a few strong ones to make a point.

After that, the weaker ones were a bit more willing to hear him out and listen.

He admitted it was hard to get the idea across to them though. They sorely lacked something he apparently had.

What it was, he had no clue, but he was sure enough beatings that didn't involve death, _living_ , and other rewards being shared among the masses would make them understand... eventually.

But... He needed more powerful monsters on his side...

Currently, he knew of several fabled monsters still lying around, living in the areas very close around Death Mountain's territory... Sure, they could never maintain as firm and strong a grip as Ymir, Jotun, and Grendal did, but they still had some form of control.

Here, in Death Mountain, he was the only powerful monster left that could maintain a long-lasting grip on others. Due to him just now coming in, the other adult and somewhat powerful monsters were likely to flee off to other small territories.

Then, deep below, in the Necropolis, there were the vampires, otherwise known as nightstalkers, and other types of undead and unnatural organic beasts born from undeath. They seemed to be controlled and directed by Count Orlok... more or less.

Towards the peak of the mountain, otherwise known as Dragon's Peak, where most Dragons and other similar reptilian creatures rested and hoarded their treasures. All of them paid respect to Tiamat, the supposed broodmother of most modern dragons.

The strange buildings and station flying high above the Mountain in the clouds was known as the Acropolis, but it had been abandoned since Legionnaires somehow invaded and wiped out all of the monsters there.

Finally, somewhere in the land was a temple to a former Goddess. There lied a supposed descendent of a Monster Swordsman who defeated some of the strongest warriors in the Legion before finally causing a mutual death between it and Gilgamesh.

If he were to force these monsters under his command somehow, then maybe his dream of a Brotherhood would not take as long to achieve...

For now? He had to be content with annoying goblins and imps. Unless he improved them somehow.

 _... Hey, there's an idea..._ Typhon thought to himself, deciding to go with that plan for an "elite" force of goblins and perhaps evolve these imps into other types of demons until he found a way to get to the other "ruling" monsters...

* * *

 _ **...**_

Flavius admired the skies as Eden held him up with some form of magic. He had never thought the skies could look so beautiful, even when he admired the scene from an airship...

 _"Is it pretty?"_ Eden asked, noting the man's apparently adoration.

 _"Yes. Is is,"_ he simply said, starting to get the hang of this new language. He was sure if he kept talking to her or some other person experienced in the language, then he'd master it quite soon...

Eden smiled at his answer. While it might've been small, it was better than something like "I'm looking for a place to take over or person to kill," or "I'm looking for a monster-girl that looks hot," or some other blasphemous thing.

Flavius soon began to look at Eden herself, his eyes finally adjusting to the strange bright glow that emanated from her body...

And noted something fairly off quite soon.

 _"Er. Why do you. Not wear clothing?"_ he questioned, _"Are you. Feeling cold?"_

 _"Hm? Oh, I'm not cold..."_ Eden said, thinking about what he just said. Why _didn't_ she wear clothes?... _"I suppose... I've never thought about it."_

 _"Oh. I see. Thank you for answering. My question,"_ Flavius simply said. Unbeknownst to Eden, this struck a chord with him. Was the God she spoke of so great and inspiring that people don't even notice they don't have clothing? Were things so peaceful with her that there was no need to wear armor? Or was the Angel herself so ancient and old that she simply never caught onto the concept of clothing?

He didn't know, but if any of these were true... Then perhaps this was a God he could finally worship and serve without finding something that just did not agree with his outlook on life.

 _ **...**_

The two kept flying, and in time, they arrived in a peaceful garden-like place, with hundreds of statues lining the walkways and a massive Ivory Tower in the center, with a gigantic gate not too far from it in a plaza of sorts.

Flavius admired the place, soon going in to observe a statue more closely before Eden suddenly jerked him back. He looked at her with a confused and worried expression, concerned that he might've done something wrong already...

 _"Themis Statue,"_ she explained, _"Meant to keep people from intruding and revealing Heaven's Gates."_

 _"Ah. Understood. Thank you, Great Seraph,"_ Flavius kneeled in gratitude, somewhat flustering the angel. She had never received this much respect from humans before... It had always been some angel who was _obligated_ to bow, kneel, or otherwise address her with some level of respect. And then there was Promestein and Black Alice's constant jeering and mockery...

Eden recomposed herself, and simply gestured for him to rise and follow her as she headed towards the plaza...

The two soon came to a wide-open spot, and Eden began to apparently talk to something... Which greatly confused Flavius, as he could see nothing.

 _"What do you mean he can't hear or see you? You're right in... Ah, right. He isn't a spirit or angel. He can't perceive holy energy. I suppose I could be bothered to help him somehow if it means I can help Goddess Ilias understand more about the Legion..."_

He couldn't quite understand the Seraph's last sentence, but understood that, judging from her glowing hand, she was about to cast a rather simple spell on him. He simply smiled, and looked down, figuring it couldn't be _that_ bad...

And, he was promptly knocked out, unable to handle the surge of holy energy Eden thought might help him be able to see things...

An awkward silence passed between Eden and Heaven's Gate.

"... So... Can I have his spirit now? Pretty sure it's safe to say he's a dead man..." Heaven's Gate asked.

"No," Eden responded, "I don't know what I just did to him... I thought if I infused his body with Holy Energy, he might've been able to perceive and interact with Holy beings and objects."

"This... This might cause him to erode and definitely die if you put too much force into your attempt to help him. Perhaps Promestein knows something about holy energy and can assist you?..." the Gate said.

"Hm... That's exactly why I chose to just attempt infusing him. I don't trust that lowly scientist... I'd sooner expect her to dissect and kill him to find out more about these new humans before obeying me."

"But it's the only general choice you have, unless you can explain to Goddess Ilias why she should bless this random man with the ability to enter and interact with Heaven."

Eden felt her pulse rise more and more as she found her options being thinned out. Of course, something just had to get in the way! She was so close to finding a way to let this man reveal information about the Legion, and it slips from her at the last second! She found a willing man, they (more or less) got over the language barrier, and they got to the Navel of the World just fine, but _right_ as she gets to Heaven's Gate, of course she would fail to take into account the fact he can't enter, and of course her distrust in Promestein would cloud her better judgement and wind up with a messy situation right now...

She was just glad Lucifina and Micaela weren't here to mock her, at the very least.

Eden simply picked up Flavius, and flew up, "I'll let him rest in the Ivory Tower for now. I want you to alert everyone that they are not to harm or treat this man as a sinner. I'm going to go find and drag Promestein here to do something... I'm not letting this plan of mine die so easily... We will know more about the Legion."

"Understood, Great Seraph Eden."

* * *

 _ **...**_

R. Emus walked into the throne room of Avalon, noting Caligula sitting upon the steps of the throne and busy at work with something.

"Greetings, Deity Caligula!" R. Emus said, saluting the man.

"Greetings to you as well, Centurion. I assume you and the BloodClaw had a good hunt?" Caligula said.

"Ah, yes. It was a glorious hunt... You should have seen me! I kicked apart an ogre's head with only a sandal covering my foot! And my fellow followers and legionnaires... Heh, we brought down a rather large, hulking troll. Truly a paragon of its kind, but nothing compared to my power!" R. Emus chuckled, "By chance, what are you working on? Isn't the Flatterer supposed to be dealing with paperwork?"

"Hm? This? It's notes left behind by Lord Zenith before he departed for the new land. He apparently was working on a series of reforms for the Legion. I'm compiling and finishing a few prototypes... I call it the 'Pax Romana.' I have reason to believe that, due to mostly being written by Lord Zenith, this will benefit our people greatly..."

"Oh? Might I see it?" R. Emus said, walking over and peering over Caligula's shoulder...

It took a while before Caligula eventually sighed and just handed R. Emus the papers, "If you want to read so badly, just ask for them. Never did take you for an intellectual though..."

"How else do you think I can stand to be Vaal's Guinea Pig? I understand that surely, he will finish his project to be as safe as possible... And then, I'll come out better than ever! And I'll train that newfound power, and become even stronger! Faster! Smarter!" R. Emus claimed as he read through the "Pax Romana," noting various things such as economic reforms, more attention given towards magic and its worth, and various changes that made the Legion much more flexible with its ways while allowing it to still maintain its honor, as well as Zenith's personal belief that "Those who want to become our allies can, if they prove themselves strong enough."

There was also a lot of focus given to a thing Zenith coined as "The Olympics" and other smaller games and gladiator matches that would take place in the colosseum that was being built.

All in all, R. Emus soon gave back the papers, deep in thought. He too, never really took Zenith to be that sort of man... But somehow, he felt inspired. This felt like... Progress. Not weakness, as the Flatterer would make it out to be, but progress, slow progress that helped give the Legion more options instead of just constant war.

"The Pax Romana... Such an admirable thing Lord Zenith has made..." R. Emus mused, "I see what it intends to do, and it does it well. Please, continue on and reform the Legion with Lord Zenith's guidance as soon as possible, Deity Caligula."

Caligula simply nodded, as R. Emus left, thinking about what he just learned...

* * *

 _ **...**_

A massive beast slipped past the trees and thick branches of Yamatai as a fog set in...

Its fangs were large, blunt, and thick. Its beady eyes were bulging, and its body was of the deepest red, pulsating and beating with the hearts of everyone.

The Oni's mouth distinctly reeked of human and mamono flesh.

It surveyed the area, growling and snarling. It had forced itself into a spiritual form for a while, and latched onto a leaving Legionnaire ship in hopes of finding new prey... And it was glad to see that it did. It still remembered what gave it its massive advantage and power over almost everything...

 _No weapon of mortalborn can hurt me._

And, with that in mind, it lurked in the village in the night, snatching up nearby monsters and humans, and feasting on them, before finally retreating as dawn broke out.

It decided it quite liked this place, so it would stay here... And as time went on, rumors and paranoia about the strange demon began to spread... And an air of constant tension and fear began to oppress Yamatai...

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hello again everyone, back with another chapter. Hopefully this is a decently made chapter. Tell me what you all think in a review or PM!

Also, on a sidenote, I do have a little challenge for anybody up for an easter egg hunt. Since it's not too major and would've popped up by next chapter, it's not too much of a spoilers to say that I intend to try and attempt to write a past for Spider Princess, Cassandra, and Vampire Queen. Anyone who finds it first can decide which one I do first. Please send your answers over a review, PM here on Fanfic, or DM at my Discord (The Inexplicable Presence #9522).

The only hints that I'll say is that the Easter Egg is in Fatima's section of this chapter and it's said by Fatima herself instead of Carmilla.

And, I do believe I have one review to answer...

Fish on Land: In hindsight, I did realize you had some very fair points about Apollyon's suggestions, and I remembered that her biology and concept of usable and practical armor is far different from a human's, so I gave more thought into it, as well as realizing Apollyon would have to give her enchantments much sooner to compensate for the more primitive designs.

Yeah. I've always sympathized with Eden, especially in Paradox. She's always lost, in one way or another. Even in that one doujin drawn be Setouchi, where Eden outright won over Luka, it more or less seems like she still lost to Lucifina in the end.

Ilias Kreuz... I might not be making the best decision, but I gave Lazarus some more common sense, where he would realize that somehow destroying the Garuda Egg would do nothing in the long run, since most high-tier monsters can usually fly or teleport from Hellgondo to Sentora and back, so he'd only be crippling his own chances of bombing any important locations that could pop up in the future, and preventing another potential legendary hero like Heinrich from ever reaching Hellgondo to fight the Monster Lord. So he swallowed his pride and decided to try and at least keep the Egg away from monsters, and perhaps use it for Kreuz's own interests in the future if possible. I might change this idea in the future, since Lazarus hasn't had much effect on the overall storyline and I can simply edit his one section to fit in with a potential new idea if I ever have it.

Vaal isn't quite what he appears to be.

Eden has brown hair?... I've always seen it as green hair. Huh. Strange. You would think I would've noticed it earlier. The reason why Flavius didn't say anything at first was because he was extremely concerned with a woman with six "chicken-wings" and a "giant yellow ring" floating above her head suddenly appearing in a bright burst of blinding light, who then offered him a chance to see a real god to really observe or care until he eventually adjusted.

Ah, thank you! I had just written that on a whim while listening to some music, and was concerned that wouldn't be good. Good to see that it was nice!

And, without ado, I will see you all later!

* * *

 _ **...**_

She desperately desired children. She wanted them to live, feel, and love with her, to accompany her, to bring life to this lonely, harsh world.

But where to get them?...

She thought it all over, heading to a waterfall to soak and swim in the waters while thinking it all over. How wonderful it felt to feel the smooth, cool waters touch her new form... How wonderful it felt to feel something so simple, yet so complex.

Not like her old form. Not like that horrible, horrific, abominable, ugly form that killed that dear, innocent little girl.

That was all in the past. She was a new person now. A new person under the gleam of the moon.

Yes... A new person. A new person who will have new friends... a new family...

Unconsciously, darkness spread around her... draining the water... snatching a deaf bat out of the starry skies... taking in a wilting flower... wrapping around a curious baby octopus with no arms... absorbing a fox with broken fangs... and ensnaring a bird and snake locked in a death fight...

One by one, Alipheese noted what she had taken in... And applied herself to them, imprinting a trace of her new body and powers on them, and a fraction of her mind, both cursing and blessing...

Her hatred for violence, and her unnatural gift for hurting others, given to the bat.

Her brilliance in forming new "life," and that feeling of never fitting in, given to the octopus.

Her love for life and how it worked, and her unintentional cruelty, given to the plant.

Her curiosity, and her cunning, given to the fox.

Her deep care for her creations, and her gluttony, given to the water.

Her will to keep going on and survive, and her jealously of the humans who could live their lives together in peace and eventually pass on from this cruel world, given to the bird and the snake, making them as one.

With that, she let them slowly turn into a new existence...

But what to name them?...

She decided to go randomly.

Who the Bat became would be named Minagi.

The Octopus would be named Hiruko.

The Plant... Kanon.

The Fox was the most intelligent of the bunch, so she gave it the longest name: Tamamo-no-Mae. Or Tamamo, for short. Or Tammy for shorter.

The water... Kanade.

And finally, that left Saja for the bird-snake.

Now, Alipheese would finally have her children... new friends...

A new family to love and admire the world with.


	8. Battle for Fort Gold

_**...**_

Julius idly cleaned and sharpened his sword on some rocks while listening to Apollyon. Always safe to polish one's sword after hacking and slashing through monster fats and guts after all.

"Say, Apollyon..." Julius said, getting the Gray Creature's attention, "You said you this, what? Apoptosis? Is that a kind of monster or something?"

 _"Not quite..."_ Apollyon mused, _"It's quite complicated how particular Apoptosis are spawned, but to put it bluntly, we're made through about four different ways, all of which are related to Chaos or time-space errors."_

"Hm? You've riled up my curiosity now... What's this Chaos? You keep talking about it like it's bigger than the Gods."

 _"That's because **it is** bigger than the Gods. It's a literal virus in the universe, in a way. It's both nothing, and... 'something.' It's a manifestation of nothingness," _Apollyon said, trying to explain it.

"... That makes absolutely no damn sense and you know it," Julius remarked.

 _"I know, I know! Let me think so I can put it in a way your sword-happy brain can comprehend..."_ Apollyon shot back, before pausing to think on it, and then saying, _"... It's... I know the term 'Nothing' makes no sense, but it's exactly that— a void in reality. A gap with nothing in it. And, despite the fact that 'nothing' shouldn't even be harmful in the slightest, it's quite lethal. Existentially so. It spreads wherever there's leaks or flaws in the fabric of space or proper order of a timeline, expanding until all that's left is nothing, but itself. It's a plague that, if left untreated, will destroy all things as we know it. The afterlife, this world, and billions upon billions beyond, it will all be exterminated."_

"Why didn't you just compare it to a disease to begin with?" Julius commented, "Could've saved your own breath and said Chaos is like a epidemic on reality that will kill it if left untreated. And, with that logic, would it be safe to assume you and these... 'Apoptosis,' are the cure to this plague?"

 _"Precisely. My kind are formed as natural combatants and exterminators of the Chaos. Though, in the end, it's nothing effective. Chaos keeps spreading, and no matter how much we monitor and exterminate any factors that could let the Chaos in, it's of no use. We can't save the worlds consumed by Chaos, nor can we stop it once it takes hold in a world."_

"Hm... Are the rest of Apoptosis like you, Apollyon?" Julius then asked, "Are they also like you in being this... smart blob of gray tentacles with a woman grafted to them?"

 _"Oh, no. Hardly. One could even consider me a freak among my kind,"_ Apollyon answered, _"You see, my kind are often... robotic, in nature. They see symptoms of Chaos or potential causes for it? They would attempt to destroy it by any means. They're mindless, most of the time. Some can be reasoned with, but the majority are extremely dull and uncreative."_

"... So what makes you different? And you haven't explained those four ways these Apoptosis are formed."

 _"I think I'll start with the latter first, as that leads into why I'm a freak among my kind. Three of those four ways of how an Apoptosis is born is quite similar really; the universe infects and transforms either an angel, human, or mamono that's in close proximity to Chaos into an apoptosis. Usually the subjects are already quite weak or close to death, but some that are healthy and extraordinarily strong can resist and delay the process."_

"I see. What about the other?"

 _"I was getting to that!... Anyways, the fourth and final method is extremely rare, and only happens when the Chaos is **extremely** catastrophic. It's when Apoptosis are formed without a subject, and are molded and transfigured into extremely powerful entities to drive back and stop the event from getting worse. We would oh-so-creatively call these rare creations 'High Apoptosis.' While initially they are just as autonomous and unreasonable as most 'lowly apoptosis,' they do retain command and great power over them, and demonstrate interesting abilities..."_

Julius interrupted once more, "And, if I am guessing right, you're one of these... 'High' Apoptosis, with your most interesting ability being common sense."

Apollyon smiled slightly at his hidden snark, _"Not quite, but close. I would suppose it does play a part in my willingness to interact and make alliances with abnormalities and unnatural occurrences in the space-time continuum like you and these humans... But no. I have no idea what is and what isn't a unique part of my particular existence or just a part of being a High Apoptosis, for the only other High Apoptosis I know is my sister, Adramelech."_

"You have a sister?" Julius said blankly.

 _"... Well, not really. We're not related, it's just that I call her that to alleviate the incredible loneliness I have because almost everyone I ever knew just didn't talk or come up with ideas like I did... I suppose it's a weird habit of mine, one she likely doesn't have the brain capacity to reciprocate."_

"Ah. I see then. Well, please, do continue on," Julius said quietly, feeling slightly bad for her now. Sure, she was a suspicious, ominous gray freak with an uncomfortable amount of tentacles, but nobody deserved to be born with sentience and live out their entire existence doing one thing with nobody but mere puppets and drones to accompany her. Such an existence was befitting for dumb animals who didn't live in herds, not emotional, thinking beings.

 _"Yes... Continuing on, I too, was originally like Adramelech, but I gained my sentience through..."_ Apollyon stammered off.

"... Wait, are you _blushing_ under all of those tentacles of yours? What happened? What did you do?" Julius questioned.

 _"I... er... Had... Um..."_

"Well? Spit it out!"

 _"IhadsexwithsomeHumanandsomehowitgavemeaconsciousandabilitytothinkandfeellikeanyoneelse."_

Julius only had to hear the first few words to sigh. Suddenly his pity for Apollyon's existence was wiped out like a slug to salt.

 _"... Yes, I do not lie, that's what happened."_

"... I think we should move on now," Julius said with a tone that didn't leave much for argument.

 _"I think so too."_

* * *

 _ **...**_

Long ago, during the time of Alice XIV, a Miko Arachne dwelled quietly in Yamatai's Spider Shrine.

It was a relatively quiet and peaceful life, if a bit boring at times. This life of humility did pay off, and all of the time she put into learning from the old Miko Arachne about Taoism and being a Shrine Maiden helped a lot.

Not to mention she got her daily requirement of semen from the occasional male who was kind enough to donate or stop by for a time, so she was never in want of something as vital as semen or food and water. She had all she needed here, and things seemed absolutely perfect...

She'd occasionally be visited by various Arachnes, one of which was a Tsuchigumo. She and her often talked and sometimes watched the people passing by give their humble respects and gifts to the shrine.

Of course, the Miko Arachne did find it irritating when she had to clean up after the guests who didn't clean up or tracked some filth into the shrine. That was no good at all, and hardly beneficial for the somewhat negative reputation spiders, and by extension, Arachnes had in Yamatai's culture.

This cycle and day-to-day life style kept on for years on end, until one night, an event happened.

The Miko Arachne had known the humans of Yamatai were growing more and more restless with each day, but she never thought they would actually grow so furious and violent as to start a riot in _Yamatai_ of all places. She wasn't aware of how it started or why they took their anger out on so many monsters, but she knew they'd be coming for the Arachne Shrine soon with the spiders' bad influence and reputation, so she fled with the rest of the outcasts, afraid and bitter towards the humans as she saw a pillar of smoke and flame from where her old shrine used to be.

The outcasts kept together in the jungles for quite some time, but they were slowly starving. None of them really knew how to hunt and live out in this environment like their feral counterparts, and despite looking up to the Elder Shirohebi as a leader in their time of need, it seemed she was just as clueless and scared as the rest of them, and she wasn't eager to turn towards the Elven Village or any other nearby places out of simple fear for hostility and other factors.

Yet, when they were ragged and close to attacking Yamatai in return out of sheer desperation, the Miko Arachne found the Tsuchigumo and some other more "Feral" Monsters were still around, and they came to teach the outcasts of Yamatai their ways, such as banditry, hunting and gathering, as well as fear-mongering.

So, with the Elder Shirohebi establishing their top priorities and needs, the outcasts came to scavenge and rebuild, making their own hideout towards the base of the mountains, deep within the jungles.

Then, as time went on, the outcasts grew more and more bitter with their awful living conditions caused by humanity, and soon truly began to become bandits and thieves. They would raid and steal from Yamatai and passing travellers quite often, taking their weapons and the little luxuries they had to make their own home better.

Soon enough, they were back to where they originally were. A small village of their very own, without fear of being driven out needlessly by humans. The Elder Shirohebi soon led them all as their leader within a small shrine-like house they had built, often meditating or continuing on with her original duties.

In the meanwhile, the majority of the outcasts had established an unspoken code of rules for their activities. One of which, was to never intentionally kill a human for no reason.

As it would happen, the former Miko Arachne broke exactly that rule quite early on in desperation for food. She had once heard from the Elder Shirohebi to never eat a human, something about how "It will stain your life. You will live forever more with that craving for human flesh. It will eat away at you, tear you apart from the inside. You'll try to justify it by any means, but you will in the end become little more than another bloodthirsty monster..."

But, she didn't care. She wanted to live, and if that meant she had to murder and eat humans, then so be it.

And it would turn out exactly how the Elder Shirohebi warned her and the other outcasts. The Miko Arachne came to grow extremely, even needlessly violent when it came to humans, slaughtering and eating them whenever possible. She preferred to torture and humiliate them with her silk and webs... But she always kept a katana to kill them quickly, just in case.

Yet, she couldn't help but feel ashamed whenever she looked back to her ragged Shrine Maiden clothing, so she kept it a secret, never telling any of the other outcasts.

Though, try as she might, it was inevitable before she was caught eating a human.

Sad as they were, none of the outcasts wanted anything to do with a man-eating monster, considering the act abhorrent and barbaric. They were already hated and feared as a borderline bandit clan— They didn't want to be seen as something even worse now.

So now, the former Miko Arachne wandered around the jungle with nothing but her weapon and the clothes on her back, unsure and afraid of where to go.

In time though, her Tsuchigumo friend came to her rescue, helping her hide away from any monster hunters and for a time, live in her cave while she continued to show the Miko the ropes on being a feral monster living in a lawless world. It took a long time, but soon enough, the Miko began to show quite a bit of skill hidden underneath all of those violent and hateful slashes.

Eventually, the Miko Arachne figured it was time to move out of Yamatai's jungles as a whole; there was nothing left here for her. She wanted bigger targets, more power, and something beyond petty revenge. She already murdered enough humans to make them sorely regret ever treating her and the spiders of Yamatai badly for no reason.

The Tsuchigumo pointed her in the direction of the Arachne Clan off in the Gold Region, where the current Spider Queen was waging a war for territory and bringing more power and wealth to her clan.

Quite obviously, the Miko made a beeline there, attacking random humans and sometimes even fellow monsters at random until she came to the Spider Queen.

She served under her for the longest time, more happy and energetic than she had ever been as a Shrine Maiden. Something about this just felt more... Right, to her. It caused her to be happier than she had ever been before, being able to vent out all of her desires and instincts out on anyone she saw fit to, and the feeling of growing stronger with her magical talents and skills was outright addicting.

Perhaps the greatest lesson she ever learned was though was who she was. She followed power, not kindness, not ideals or philosophy; they were just things to think about on the side.

She followed the strongest side. That was all she ever knew to be a consistent factor in her life. Anyone who could prove themselves better than her, for at least a time anyways, was deserving of her respect.

But, she couldn't feel satisfied with just that much. The feeling of physical and magical power wasn't enough. Sure, the life of a bandit or a warrior was fun, but it was _control_ that made her feel right at home. And, to have control over everyone under the illusion of bringing glory to the Arachne Clan...

It was a dream she couldn't pass up on, and the seat of Queen Insect was just prime to be the first step in her dreams...

Yet, as Charlotte defeated both the Queen Ant and Queen Bee fair and square and became the Insect Queen, she couldn't muster up the courage to challenge either Cassandra Nereneid or Alipheese Fateburn XV when the time for the new Monster Lord came. It was... It was a feeling she loathed. It was like when she was thrown out of Yamatai along with the rest of the outcasts, she _hated_ being at the mercy of someone else, to know that she didn't have a single chance at all.

She hated that feeling of despair and state of being powerless while others rose and took the throne of Monster Lord.

But... Even if later on she was dethroned and forced back into hiding, even if her former Queen became a soft, weakling pacifist in her final years, even if all she had now was the Arachne Clan to achieve her dreams of domination... She would rise. She would prepare, and grow stronger...

And when the time was right, she would rule this whole world as its Empress.

* * *

 _ **...**_

The Spider Princess snapped out of her musings, looking up to notice the Arachne Lord entering the room.

"We only just got here to Fort Gold a few hours ago... Are they?..." Charlotte said with concern. They hadn't fully webbed up the Fort or set up their traps and vantage points yet, if they were caught and forced into a direct one-on-one fight with the Legion... She wasn't sure if she'd be able to recover from the costs of winning.

The Arachne Lord nodded grimly, "They're here."

Charlotte quickly shoved past Arana, moving to the battlements to survey the field before them.

Sure enough, there was a horde of large knights around. There was one particularly strange one among the bunch who was taller and wielded a mace and a sword rather than a shield and sword like the rest of them. Likely their leader.

"This is... problematic. We aren't ready yet to take them on, we need more time..." Charlotte hissed, before sighing, "Gah, to hell with strategy. Anything we set up now will be half-assed and do _us_ more harm than it'll do to these knights. Arana, make sure to tell it's every Arachne for herself. Do not hold back at all against this army. I'm going to attempt to delay them for a bit while you, Nacha and Mizuki get everyone prepared for the fight."

Arana froze up, "Do you really think it's a good idea to go up to them?... We don't know if they have the same traditions and courtesies as our—"

"I will be fine!" Charlotte sharply said, "I'm better at Space-Time magic than anyone else in the Arachne Clan! I will be able to retreat back to here before getting overwhelmed. They're only human after all."

"Humans that butchered most of the Gold Region," Arana countered.

Charlotte didn't bother answering as she wove a silk line and scaled down the wall to meet up with the knights...

 _ **...**_

Octavius sighed, "It's about damn time we saw a fortified structure... This ought to be that 'Fort Gold' place that guards the border between this region and the 'Noah' Region."

Luzbel shrugged, "I suppose Archon did his job well. Anyone would, considering this is a new land with fresh territory to conquer and earn glory and valor."

"Yes, I know, but damn it, I want to be able to learn and discover new creatures firsthand too, I'm an adventurer at heart, not a damn politician or a figurehead to be idolized and put on a fancy throne all day long to gather up dust," Octavius said with exasperation.

Luzbel chuckled, "Welcome to the life of being a Legion Deity my Lord. It's a boring and unfulfilling existence compared to the bloodshed and chaos of being a standard soldier."

"Damn right. I hated being stuck in Avalon for all those years. All I had was books to read, and even then it got boring because it was always about the fun _other_ legionnaires got to have while I was sitting on some decadent throne with my weapons dulling because of boredom and not blood," Zenith complained, before noticing something, "Hm... Is one of the enemies approaching us?"

"It's probably a farce. Archers!..." Luzbel commanded, before being interrupted by Lord Zenith, "My Lord?... What are you doing?..."

Lord Zenith made a slight chuckle as he approached the large Spider-Girl, "Entertaining the idea that these monsters, or 'mamono' as our soldiers seem to call them, might be civilized."

"What if she tries to kill you?..." Luzbel said with concern, following him.

"Then it'll be a nice start to my first true battle in ages."

The two soon stopped a certain distance, with the Spider Princess stopping as well. It seemed they were locked into silence, too tense to really say anything.

 _"So, you are the knights that have been waging a war across this region..."_ the Spider Princess said, opening up the conversation.

Lord Zenith cleared his throat. He'd been practicing for this... Sort of. _"Yes. We are the Legion. We seek glory, valor, honor, and war. Who are you?"_

The Spider Princess cringed. His grammar and pronunciation was _very_ butchered, but at least she could understand him... kind of. She supposed they truly were from another unknown land if they couldn't talk the one and only language spoke across the _entirety of the known world._

 _"I am Charlotte, the Spider Queen,"_ Charlotte said, introducing herself, _"I can very plainly tell we're going to fight no matter what we say here. Do you have any last words before the Arachne Clan crushes your pitiful attempt at conquest?"_

 _"Yes, Charrr-lot, I do,_ _"_ Zenith said, intentionally butchering her name there. What kind of a name was Char-lot? _"I do. Is the Noah Region behind that Fort?"_

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. Was he really that bad at reading maps? _"Yes. It is."_

 _"Ah. Good. My Legionnaires aren't good at taking maps in one piece."_

Charlotte giggled. That was a bit amusing, actually, which reminded her of a bet she thought she would follow up on from the conversation she had with that joke of an Ant Queen...

 _"Mhm... I'm quite amused by you, actually. Why don't we make a bet? If I win, I claim all of your men as slaves and livestock for the Arachne Clan. If you win, I'll stop supporting Grangold and withdraw my soldiers! I'll even become your lover or mistress!"_

Zenith blanked out. He understood the first part as basically "I win, you serve me," but what did the second part where he wins mean?

He whispered to Luzbel privately in their normal language, "Uh, Luzbel, what does 'mistress' mean?"

Luzbel blanked out as well. "Sounds like this 'marriage' term that keeps being thrown around in this continent as well. It might actually correlate to something to our language, but I don't know. Personally, I think it sounds like it's an alliance of some sorts where she joins with her Clan to help us... I guess."

"... That's not reassuring..." Zenith said, now almost more afraid to win if anything if his pride and godhood wasn't at stake. At least he understood what it meant to serve the stronger side, but what the hell did it mean to have her be his "mistress" or "lover?"

"Oh, to hell with it. What's the worst that could happen if I win? It probably just is their word for an alliance. I just gotta make sure not to kill her or too much of her Clan to collect on this alliance-thing she proposed," Zenith said, _"Very well then. I accept your 'bet.'"_

 _"I see then! We'll see who's stronger by the end of this..._ _"_ Charlotte giggled, retreating back to the Fort.

 _ **...**_

"Death or Glory! Victory, or Valhalla!" Lord Zenith shouted to his soldiers, raising his sword into the air.

"Death or Glory! Victory, or Valhalla!" the Legion repeated, marching to close the distance between them and the fortress.

The Archers were already preparing themselves, notching their arrows and firing off a storm of black bolts through the air as the few magicians began to chant foul incantations and curses.

The Arachnes however, were quite clearly not nearly as stupid as the monsters of Death Mountain, as they immediately ducked or did some strange magical spell to neutralize the arrows.

The Atlach-Nacha sensed the vibrations of the soldiers, figuring out their general numbers.

Wasn't too much. Maybe a couple hundred. A thousand at the very worst. Very small compared to the rumors they were hearing about, or perhaps just a small division of them.

Still, judging from the intensity and type of sounds these soldiers were making, it was obvious they were extremely well armored.

"Spider-Girls, set up nets of silk, douse them with venom. Preferably digestive venom. Tarantula-Girls, Large Spiders, go to the front gate. If they break in, that's obviously where they'll be going. Miko and other Wizard Arachnes, cast support magic on the Spider-Girls to speed up their progress but attend to the main fight if the Legionnaires break in. Ranged Arachnes... Find hidden spots, and rain hell on them by any means necessary," the Atlach-Nacha commanded, all of the Arachnes immediately going off to do so.

The Legionnaires grunted as they felt sticky globs of... silk? Thrown at them. It seemed they were toxic, but their armor would weather through it well enough. They arrived soon enough to the front gates, where they immediately set on attempting to break it down with a magician's spell.

However, as they were waiting, they noticed nets of silk dropped onto them, causing their movement to slow down and for them to briefly get tangled up before they just cut them apart.

As they were distracted with this however, Mizuki and several other Arachnes quickly appeared and wove several lines of silk around a few Legionnaires' throats, before jumping back into the shelter of their fort, dragging and lifting up the caught Legionnaires into the air by their throats.

Some were unfortunate enough to then be dragged into the fort itself and completely woven up into a cocoon, where they'd be set on a hastily-made series of webbing to remain trapped until the Arachnes were ready to deal with them.

Others however, were just left up to be hanged. Which would've happened, but they managed to struggled out and break the lines of web around their necks, causing them to crash back into the earth, causing some disorientation and confusion among the Legion's ranks regardless.

The Arachnes kept up their defensive tactic, continuously stringing up random Legionnaires and using their greater agility and speed to their advantage, especially as their magicians casted support magic to enhance their performance.

Yet, the Legion's designated "Siege" Mage was left alone towards the back, and thus, he was able to complete his explosive spell with relatively ease and quiet, where he then threw a massive fireball at the gates, burning and fracturing it into many splinters and ashes as the Legionnaires promptly marched in.

However, they were met by Tarantula-Girls and Large Spiders to halt their progress into the fort, resulting in an immediate bloodbath.

The Arachnes, for all their strength, found it simply put _hard_ if not near impossible to get through their armor with their bare hands, causing the more brutish members of their ranks having to resort to crushing or sending them flying.

Which was still hard, because they weren't used to fighting soldiers who had armor well-smithed enough to not get punched through by a mamono.

Charlotte on the other hand, who was wielding a katana, was slashing through Legionnaires with relative ease due to her strength and having a sharp object, though she soon spotted Lord Zenith disposing of her arachnes with relative ease in turn.

Lord Zenith spotted her as well, and the two leaders engaged to fight in a duel of their own in all of this chaos.

The Spider Princess smirked, distorting the world around them until the two were alone in a private, narrow cavern. It was dark and filled with webs, with large stalagmite and stalactites jutting out, with pillars of stone looming above them.

The Legion Lord looked around, almost confused, _"... Where have you taken me?"_

 _"This... Is my own personal dimension, made through my extreme talent and skill in magic. I'm sure you can tell I already have the upper hand here, and there is no escaping me in this domain... Now, shall I dismember you to show you how weak you are? Or will you bow before me?"_

Octavius snarled, insulted by the prospect of surrendering without even trying, _"Death first!"_

Charlotte hummed, smiling darkly, _"Death it is then."_

Lord Zenith charged in, swinging at Charlotte with his mace, only to see that she deftly avoided the strike without a second thought and struck back, stabbing at his side and moving away. Zenith continued attempting to run down the Arachne with his weapons, but she always seemed to already know where to fall back to and what to resort to.

So, he figured if that's how she wanted to play, he'd use her territory to his advantage too, smashing down the pillars of stone and shattering stalagmites to irritate and force the Spider Princess out of hiding.

 _"So that's how you want to play it!?_ _"_ Charlotte shouted, beginning to cast Taoist spells on him as she make several motions with one hand, casting _Toxic Water Talisman!_

Lord Zenith coughed, briefly blinded by the water. He didn't actually expect her to be able to cast magic with specific intention or effects! The monsters he knew often just hurled massive spells of destruction or brute force rather than something very specific such as poisoned water.

Yet, as she casted the talisman again, he noticed something different... He felt like that he was even weaker to it before, feeling more pain and damage done to him than the first time she casted it.

 _This is unlike even Ymir... The Mamono of this land are just as smart as humans, and a lot more willing apparently to resort to strange magic... They're more skilled and refined despite their weakness. Treating her like some other powerful monster brute will get me nowhere._

Lord Zenith growled, despite that thought, it was _hard_ to do much else but be forced to try and fight the Spider Princess in her own territory.

He felt a slash across his back, with Charlotte quickly darting away into narrower cracks and crevices before he could counter.

So, he just smashed up a nearby boulder and dropped it on her hiding spot.

Yet, she seemed to get behind him _again_ when she made another hit-and-run strike, diving back into another passageway that Zenith knew would be stupid to go into when she's obviously much more able to go in and out of them.

So, he just blocked it off again.

And he'd do it again, and again, until finally, he heard a boulder moving in the distance, alerting him to where Charlotte had emerged from.

The Spider Princess was smart enough not to have went in for a strike, and simply kept her distance, now going back to casting spells.

Yet, this time it wasn't just talismans. She was physically slowing Zenith's movement speed down through time magic, and thus felt a lot more courageous when it came to attacking him head-on.

Octavius was more than a little pissed at his slower speeds, but knew it could've been worse; she could've paralyzed him had it not been for his magic resistance from the constant spells thrown at him in training and at Death Mountain.

Everytime he thought he was going to be able to counter or strike back at her, she managed to jump back, and renewed her slowing spell, and resumed striking him until she would finally win.

Soon enough Lord Zenith decided he needed to resort to the same level of sneakiness and dishonorable tactics as her here if he wanted to have a chance at getting a real up-close fight.

So, when he felt her time-spell begin to waver and fade, he pretended to lose his stamina, gradually falling to his knees and making purposeful panting and heavy breathing noises.

Charlotte smirked, laughing, _"Tired already? How shameful. At least you can take solace knowing you're the only human to have pushed me this far before..."_

She paced up to him, giggling softly as she considered to shame him even further by stripping him down and raping him... Before her eyes widened and she was forced to raise her katana to block the sudden leap and strike Zenith made at her.

Zenith grunted, figuring the best way to avoid any more spells was to just force her to keep defending herself as he striked again and again, forcing her to focus on blocking rather than retreat and take a potentially crippling strike or be able to cast another spell.

The Spider Princess soon enough used one of her legs to kick Zenith in the head while he was preparing another blow, stunning him briefly enough for her to focus some magic in her eyes and attempt to charm him with _Demon Eyes of Seduction._

Zenith noted the faint gleam starting to glow brighter in her eyes however as he looked back at her, and simply settled for tackling her into the ground.

The two tumbled down through the rocky caverns, both trying to grapple and subdue the other.

Charlotte resorted to trying to web him up and wrap him inside a cocoon; Octavius settled for dropping his mace and holding his sword behind her neck, ready to use both of his arms to pull his sword towards himself.

It became very clear which one was going to lose first if they kept on fighting, with the Spider Princess dropping her katana in defeat.

The dimension soon faded away, and the two were back in the fort, with both of their still-warring forces quickly stopping once they saw the outcome of their leaders' duel.

 _"I-... I..."_ Charlotte stuttered, unable to fully comprehend the outcome of this fight. She... She lost?...

 _"I... I surrender. You win."_

While Lord Zenith was tempted to kill her, he held off on it. They had a bet after all, and she wasn't just some dumb monster to be killed.

 _"I accept your surrender. I believe I win that bet now..."_

The Spider Princess gulped, _"Yes... As I promised, I'll withdraw my Arachnes from Grangold's forces now. They will work and ally with your Legion now... As for the marriage, well... I need to prepare myself mentally, this is so sudden..."_

Zenith paused. Wait. What? This "Marriage" thing and an Alliance were two different things? Then what did it mean? He had to investigate this strange word and its meaning soon.

 _"Um... Sure,"_ Octavius said, releasing the Spider Princess, before speaking in his own language to the Legionnaires, "Rest up men. The battle is won. This clan of spider-women will help us from now on, or something."

 _ **...**_

Charlotte took a few deep breaths, recomposing herself as the Legion Lord departed to camp out in the fields with his knights.

Arana dragged herself out from the fort, quite clearly having taken a few wounds of her own, "... So, you're going to marry him."

"Yes."

"And you have no idea who he is."

"Yes."

"And you're only in this situation because you decided to make some stupid bet and add on marrying the man to add to the insult of the Arachne Clan allying itself with some barbaric horde of bloodthirsty tincans."

"... Don't rub salt into injury Arana. I think he might not even know what marriage is. He looked really confused when I was talking about it. Besides... Think of them as spoiled slaves or a means to get closer to conquering the world. With them we at least get most of the territory they took from Grangold's control. You know I have always followed the strongest side in the end."

"I suppose we... We can recover from this defeat. There weren't too many casualties. Are you certain we really do have a chance at conquering the world with them by our side? That this group of humans really can do such a thing?"

"King Grangold himself had to have approached us for a reason. There has to be a reason why he was willing to make a deal like that with me. There has to be a reason why there's so much fear and rumors going on about the bloodbaths they've caused."

"Hm... And if there's no chance in the end?"

"Hmph. If that's so, then we'll simply fade back into the shadows and keep our heads low until we can try again."

"I hope you're right..."

"I know I am. Besides... Now I can probably direct them anywhere I want. We're their allies now, and they don't know where to go in this land by themselves."

Arana nodded, while Charlotte sighed, "Anyways... We need to heal and tend to our wounded. Go find Mizuki and Nacha and get them to report to me while you're spreading my order around."

"Understood my Queen!" Arana said, turning to leave while Charlotte sat down and thought about the future...

* * *

 _ **...**_

It was lonely, being trapped in one's dead corpse.

Then again, it was guilty for the countless deaths of humans and its own kind alike, so it supposed it deserved this miserable fate.

The Frost Giant Ymir was dead. That much he knew for sure. But... It seemed he still had one regret that kept him from passing away onto the Hall of Valor in peace.

He had died honorably, fighting a human that truly was mighty, no, even stronger than he himself and his brothers all at once. That much, he did not regret. He lost fair and square, and he was fine with that. Hell, he had even wanted to die that way ever since the fall of Julius "Caesar" Zenith.

But, it seemed his ancient desire to have one day met his creator, the one he only knew as the "Dark Mistress," was too strong for him to let this world go.

Ymir would've cried, had he been alive. All he wanted was to have gained some closure to the origin of monsterkind; why were they here? Why were they condemned to this eternal, miserable cycle of constantly being slaughter by their own fathers and mothers? Why was it that humans can work together, but the monsters themselves cannot? Why must it come to the point that Grendal had to butcher half of the monster tribes in order to instill some order for monsters to unite against the Legion?

And why was it that monsters cannot respect their own dead, instead treating them like food, as he saw with Jotun and Grendal's bodies...

That's all it wanted to have learned from the Dark Mistress. Why were he and his kin so flawed? What was wrong with them? Were they just some sick form of entertainment to them? Just a bunch of zoo animals locked up to poke and make fun of? Was it so hard to have made them with the same blessing of unity and order humanity had? Were he and his kind simply doomed to eternally be snarling beasts, incapable of changing for the better?

It didn't know. And that's what kept it in this eternal torture; not knowing what the Dark Mistress intended when creating him and his kind, nor why she had abandoned them to this fate.

... But, at least its killer, that warrior the Legionnaires seemed to once refer to as "Octavius" or nowadays as "Lord Zenith," kept returning to it even after knowing it was dead.

It had initially expected Octavius to be bitter about the countless humans it had unjustly killed over its many centuries of life, but instead, Octavius simply seemed to... honor the dead, in a sense, where he kneeled a certain distance from Ymir, plunging his sword into the ground while lowering his head in respect. What Octavius muttered varied from time to time, but Ymir could tell the legionnaire prayed to one day find a challenge just like Ymir and continue honoring the worthy, even if they weren't a legionnaire.

It appeared Octavius suffered the same fate Ymir did, to an extent. He too, wanted to fight and die a warrior's death, but now there was none he could fight anymore. All of his worthy opponents, either cowards in hiding or avoiding his attention... Just as Octavius seemed to pity Ymir after he killed him, Ymir now pitied Octavius for his fate of eternal boredom, of never being able to find a new challenge or rival to contest his "Godhood" against.

Until recently, anyways, when it heard that Octavius had found a new continent far away, and planned on waging a new war to find the worthy fight that he sought for.

Had Ymir been alive, it would've smiled under its bushy beard. From one soldier to another, may that man find and fulfill his desire one day, and finally find some form of closure and mental peace.

And, in place of Octavius, it seemed a new one had rose to begin honoring and meditating in its humble chasm. It was an intelligent demon of sorts, a beast that called itself "Typhon."

Ymir somewhat liked Typhon, he wasn't too different from Grendal. He had the will to unite the Monsters against humanity... even if he was fueled by pure anger and grief. And, unlike Grendal, Typhon appeared to be far smarter too.

Secretly, it wondered if this new land was where the Dark Mistress was at... and, one day, used up most of its remaining strength to influence Typhon, giving him the idea to seek out the Dark Mistress, to beg her to return and save monsterkind... its message might've come out wrong, due to how weak it was, but it could try again when it recovered and got more used to this horrible state of existence.

Hopefully, with Typhon influenced by its final desire, he could one day at least _see_ the Dark Mistress, and at long last have enough closure to pass onto the Halls of Valor, and meet once more with its brothers, the ancient heroes of the Legion, and maybe even Julius himself...

* * *

 _ **...**_

Cassandra hummed quietly to herself as she decided to go for a walk in her mansion before sleeping for the night. It only took a short, town meeting to assert to the other citizens and ladies of the Village that, indeed, she had kept the knights in hopes of finding new paths to greater power and tasty prey by following them back to wherever they came from. Even if it was only short because the village was astoundingly small even for a place meant exclusively for rich retired women.

 _Those knights will prove to be most intriguing, regardless of the end result. Though I admit I am a bit annoyed with their "language..."_ Cassandra mused. She wouldn't lie, she'd have expected the men to have been some sort of zombie or demon with their usual pitch and how they pronounced their words. She'd have used "pig" to describe them, but she knew that was inaccurate, as none of them appeared to be fat or high-pitched.

Reforming her usual dress into a fleshy bathrobe of sorts to suit the more private area and her own mood, Cassandra walked down the hallways, silently thinking on her decisions.

Of course, she did plan on continuing Emily's education and training, preferably as the two travelled together if they found where the Knights came from. Leaving behind a worthy heir to the Nereneid bloodline mattered far more than anything else.

Then, of course, there was taking over the Monster Lord's Throne. Perhaps it was a good time now or sometime in the future, now that she thought about it. Just walk in, make a show of challenging Alipheese Fateburn the Sixteenth for the throne, and duel her for it. Cassandra knew the new Monster Lord was extremely young, and in front of her "Heavenly" Knights, and anyone else that happened to overhear it, she was certain that Alice would blindly accept, more or less. Unless that damnable fox talked some sense into her, but Cassandra had reason to doubt that considering the lamia had yet to bother disciplining any of the kingdoms that blatantly ignored her laws.

 _Yes... All I have to do is find out where these knights came from, and consume more of those creatures they killed, and I'm certain that I will grow strong enough to completely crush Alice..._ Cassandra thought to herself. Maybe she'd share some with Emily if there were enough. Or if she finally stopped trying to be an singer-idol or whatever it was called.

Cassandra sighed, passing by some family portraits of the various Nereneids over generations. At the latest, was her and Emily, with Ran in the background. She sincerely hoped there would be a future portrait with Emily and her child in the future, because right now the young scylla's potential to fill in the reputation of the Nereneids was looking _very_ dire right now.

But, then again, as Ran said, "Children will be children." She supposed even she was starry-eyed and optimistic like that a long time ago. Before it got torn short like her hair anyways.

She moved onto the next portrait, seeing her younger self and a kitsune with eight black tails; her mother. It wasn't accurate to say her mother was a kitsune so much as she was a mutant monster of some sort. She never seemed to have a true form, more or less just the one she wanted to have. Cassandra fondly remembered the fierce rivalry her mother had with Tamamo. What she didn't remember fondly was how her mother combined various monster traits and looks, especially from the "Unfortunate" Monsters, to make herself look like an abomination to terrify and scare her when she was little.

 _... She's better off dead. I never liked her anyways. A good monster, but a terrible teacher and a poor excuse for a mother._

Putting aside the memory of her mother, she soon saw a portrait of an alraune, with purple skin and long hair, as well as pink petals and, curiously enough, purple vines and leaves.

Thalia Nereneid, the generation of Nereneid from Heinrich and Black Alice's era, before they all settled into Lady's Village and were still nomadic.

Cassandra wondered sometimes if she'd ever become as great as Black Alice and Thalia were. If monsterkind would ever rise and become as grand as they used to be 500 years ago.

Maybe that could actually happen, had the Fateburns not softened up and grown so lazy and content on their throne over so many generations. Cassandra was certain that the First would be greatly disappointed in how her children and (false and unrightful) successors seemed to have given up asserting their authority and leading monsterkind to glory.

 _Good grief... My age is starting to catch up with me. I'm really thinking like a grumpy old woman now..._ Cassandra thought with some slight amusement, poking fun at her own thoughts despite the fact she knew and held this opinion to be objectively true.

She moved on, soon seeing a portrait of the very first Nereneid, fashioned by the Dark Goddess herself much like the Six Ancestors and several other monster races.

Chronodia Nereneid, the progenitor of the rest of the Nereneids and the one who should have been the rightful Monster Lord to succeed the Dark Goddess when she and the Six Ancestors were sealed away.

Yet, alas, the Fateburns were nominated as the succeeding family line instead when Micaela, wretched whore of Ilias, managed to corner Chronodia and supposedly kill her.

Cassandra was more of an opinion that Chronodia was just sealed away like Morrigan and other mythical mamono. After all, it wasn't uncommon for Ilias to spread lies about how "good" her Seraphim were. Even though it was obvious from a glancing look that Seraph Eden wasn't _that_ useful compared to Lucifina, who was an over-glorified death machine, and Micaela, who was just someone to manage and instill order into the angel ranks.

 _What a mess we've become since then... Reduced from the most powerful clan of mamono in the world favored by the Dark Goddess herself down to a single family line living in a retirement home for rich monsters..._ Cassandra thought bitterly, _No matter how long it takes, I **will** become stronger... And when I finally have that power... I'll exterminate you all for good, like the parasite_ _you and your family are to monsterkind, Alipheese XVI, and the Nereneids will take their rightful place..._

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hello again everyone. It's uh, been a bit of a while. Sorry for the delay, had some personal stuff in life going on, as well as Writer's Block. Hopefully this is a decently made chapter. Tell me what you all think in a review or PM!

Also, on a side note, I do have a little challenge again for anybody up for an easter egg hunt, with the winner getting a shout-out. It's a reference to a character from another MGQ Fanfic here on this site, with permissions from the owner of course. Go ahead and PM me here on Fanfic, or DM me at my Discord (The Inexplicable Presence #9522) if you have an idea of who it was.

And, I do believe I have one review to answer...

 **Fish on Land:** It's less of her being able to see the future, and more of her just mentioning it to the Seraphs in a random conversation. Couple hundred years later, when Lucifina has a boy, she decides "Luka" was actually a nice name for him and gives it to him. Fair point about the apes, though I will say that Ilias was more surprised by males existing in general rather just being exclusive to humans since before she was only exposed to and knew about females.

Yeah. Apollyon isn't quite good at helping, since she's never really tried blacksmithing before other than what she learned from an alternate timeline's Papi/Dragon Pup. Her humanity and intelligence stems from the fact that Adramelech herself actually shows signs of being, or at least developing intelligence when she rapes Luka in her H-Scene. Apollyon did the same thing to some random person to "repair" herself, and got intelligence on the side as well. Since then it's been growing and learning just like any other intelligent being.

Presumably, it'll be what happens. Causing a big catastrophe is essentially the easiest way to "unlock" the seal on the Six Ancestors, though it's likely possible to break them out from the outside by other means as well. And is it actually the first time Minagi's appeared?

Well, I suppose it's kind of nice, and ego-inflating, that I'm (maybe) the first person to include Minagi and do a better job at characterizing her than the OVA did.

I found the idea of Loli Tamamo to be the logical step when returning an Ancestor back to life at a weakened state, and I suspected Minagi probably takes a lot of pride in her normal looks and appearance and wouldn't appreciate looking like anything else.  
*I saw your review and made corrections accordingly. My apologies.

 **Guest #1:** I suppose? If you look closely, there's already a character who's a Street Fighter reference. It'll become much more blatantly obvious as time goes on.

 **NeoScriptGenius12:** Thank you! I'm quite happy I did such a good job at doing Ilias' past!... I don't quite get the "I was a King" review though...

 **Fleece Johnson:** Aaaah, I see, thank you! I'm quite happy to see that my characterization of Ilias is being taken this well, and how you like how the world was made. Presumably, if the Legion does keep going unimpeded, it would very well result in more Ancestors being sealed. Though, as it stands, I believe it would first result in Minagi being fully unsealed, then another Ancestor being released as a weakened loli before being fully revived, until finally the Dark Goddess herself returned.

 **Legate Lanius:** Heh. I approve.

* * *

 _ **...**_

 _ **Vaal's True Facts About The Mamono: Arachne Guide**_

Is this stupid thing recording? Yes? Ah, good. That's good to hear.

Well, the Arachnes are a varied group of monster-girls with spider traits. That is why they are called Arachnes.

Some Arachnes are quite cute, like the little jumping spider-girl. Until they jump onto your head and bite your face off.

Er, small interruption, but I'm still looking for interns, if anyone's willing. Anyways:

Some Arachnes are quite horrifying, like the Unfortunate Arachne—

Wait. Those existed back in the day? Who did this research and script? R. Emus? Ugh. That's a horrible idea. Moving on:

In Sentora, Arachnes are often feared and create what is known as "Confused Boners" due to their extremely vicious nature and their apparently "hot" looks.

Yes, I said it. Have you seen that Tarantula Girl? Bleh. And the Large Spider might as well be beastiality if you ask me.

However, in Legion, we simply require a bigger boot. A _much_ bigger boot.

One of the Araches' most iconic abilities, other than their horrifying appear—... Alright, I know that's true, but can we please stop letting R. Emus write the damn script?

Er-hem: One of the Arachnes' most iconic abilities, is their ability to weave webs from their spinneret. Which is kind of gross actually.

Now, let me put this into perspective.

The lower half of an Arachne like their legs, genitals, and buttocks.

The spinneret is at the end of their abdomen, which is like their buttocks.

Imagine expunging silk from your... other end, to trap and kill your food, and to make money.

That, my dear listener, is how the Arachne do.

... Okay, I can't keep a straight face now, who seriously let R. Emus write this? I mean, I get it, but it's not actually where real spiders, much less Arachnes expunge waste—

Oh, alright, but R. Emus is a fucking idiot. Moving on:

Now, Tarantula-Girls, much like most Tarantulas, can't weave webs for shit, so they wander around instead.

Imagine being so incompetent and bad at what your entire race is famed for that you can't even catch food with it.

The Tarantula-Girls truly lead a miserable existence.

Despite the massive differences in biology spiders have from humans, Arachnes still somehow manage to live.

I mean, really, they have both an endo and an exoskeleton. Think on what comes to mind when you think of a creature with an unnatural body composition.

That's right, a fucking eldritch horror straight out of Vaal's—

Ok, first off, fuck you R. Emus, I am going to straight up kill anyone who lets you write the script again, and second, I heavily agree with you on how Arachnes have both an exoskeleton and endoskeleton. That is just not natural. Their creator was a sick, sick woman. Er, continuing on now:

Despite all these differences though, the genitals happen to be right at the spot where the woman half meets the spider half, so Arachnes can conveniently hold a man in place giving him a "confusion boner" while deathfucking, and probably eating him, just like normal spiders.

Messed up, but whatever.

They're also talented at space-time magic, which can be a pain. However, only the really powerful ones can do that.

And if you see any mamono who's of a high rank, then you're fucked anyways, so we're not going into that.

So, just remember, if you're a freak of nature with an exoskeleton _and_ an endoskeleton, then you are probably spending a good amount of time shooting a mass of silk out of your ass and being all-around one of the freakier and more disliked mamono in the world. Unless you make honey or something, but that's a topic for another day.

Anyways, that is all the time we have today for "Vaal's True Facts About Mamono," we will see you next time on this shitty attempt to save the normies' lives.

Aaaaand stop.

Alright, that was pretty good, right guys? Pretty sure this'll help those Sentorans a lot and bring in the income.

What? Of course this won't help them. It was written by fucking R. Emus.

Wait it's still going? Shit, how do we turn it off!?

Is it off— No?

How about— Ugh, damn it.

Ah, there we go—


	9. Pure White Devil in Succubus Village

_**...**_

A deathly pale woman walked through the recently built pavement of the Monster Lord's Castle, having been summoned by her Goddess along with several other powerful Clan Leaders.

She opened the doors, entering the throne room. Or, well, the room that would be the throne room. They still haven't quite gotten to finding a suitable throne for someone like the Dark Goddess, whose lower body made finding a properly elegant and comfortable throne... difficult.

The Monster kneeled before a Dark Presence in the room, noting the Six Ancestors were already present.

"Dark Mistress," the monster said with humility and reverence.

 _ **"Nereneid,**_ _ **"**_ The Dark Goddess answered back. The Founder of the Nereneid Family merely thought that Alipheese was referring to her by last name, though, in truth, it was just that Alipheese forgot her name. She was slightly concerned she actually forgot, considering this person was probably the successor to her throne as Monster Lord if she and the Ancestors ever vanished or weren't around to manage monsterkind.

The Nereneid Matron raised her head ever-so-slightly, looking up at her Goddess, "Why have you summoned me and the Ancestors here, Dark Mistress?"

 _ **"It concerns the Light Goddess, Ilias,"**_ Alipheese answered, causing everyone to sneer and scoff at the mention.

"What an overblown and arrogant attention whore..." Saja remarked, "Always wanting to keep Humanity _all_ to herself..."

"It's strange, how she values them so much," Kanade mused, "They're expendable livestock whose primary use lies in their taste and reproducing with them to make more of our kind."

Alipheese silently sighed. Her children were always difficult like that, never listening to her intentions of coexistence. Well, whatever... She'll just deal with that issue after what was troubling them right now.

 _ **"This is no laughing matter children,"**_ Alipheese warned, silencing everyone instantly, _**"Ilias has made her intentions of warring against us quite clear. Already we are suffering from Angel Attacks that are just now becoming clear."**_

"Wa-War!? Her!? With her pathetic forces!?" Minagi laughed, "Eden couldn't kill anyone in this room even if she had a million years to train! Even Hiruko could take her on! So what if we lost a few settlements or cities? What's Ilias really going to do to us that'll hurt us in the long run?"

Hiruko looked hurt, "He-Hey... That wasn't—"

Abruptly interrupting the Scylla Ancestor, Alipheese quickly shot down Minagi's assumption, simply saying, _**"I can safely say Micaela and Lucifina would make short work of you Minagi. Do not underestimate the Heavens' might and willpower."**_

Minagi let out a small squeak, "Ye-Yes Mother... Sorry Mother..."

 _ **"Now... Chronodia..."**_ Alipheese turned her attention towards the Nereneid, _**"I want you to alert the rest of the Monster Domains along the Ancestors. Make sure everyone is ready for war, or at least the ones that are... advantageous in position and long-term viability, such as the Beelzebubs."**_

Chronodia nodded, "As you wish, Dark Mistress. I shall depart immediately to spread your command..."

As the Nereneid left, Alipheese turned her attention towards the rest of her children, _**"I expect the best out of all six of you. You are my first creations... The paragons and progenitors of all mamono. Make me proud, my children, but take care that arrogance and blind stupidity does not lead to your downfalls..."**_

The Six Ancestors all bowed, "Of course Mother! We obey!"

And with that, the Six left, leaving the Dark Goddess alone in the room...

 _ **The Die has been cast, and the War started. Make your move, Ilias... I'll play your little games...**_

* * *

 _ **...**_

In the present day, deep within the Port Base the Legion had established as a safe way to land and dock on the New World without winding up somewhere else entirely and getting lost, many mamono had been locked up.

Granted, basic necessities and shelter was given to them, as was bedding and other occasional luxuries some mamono might've struggled to have out in the wild, but the Legion's notorious language barrier with the locals was truly starting to show when they captured a few succubi.

For the longest time, none of the guards knew how or why the bat-women were deteriorating, only that they apparently were. No amount of magic or crude medicine seemed to heal the disease they figured must've been infecting the succubi.

Only, it wasn't a disease. It was their plain and simple utter need for sex, semen in particular. It could be staved off for a time with masturbation, sure, or if the succubus had some vampiric heritage they could resort to drinking blood for a short while, but in the end, all succubi needed semen just as much as they needed food and water.

Which made keeping them captive particularly troublesome for Legionnaire "Scientists," who couldn't understand why only they were slowly dying when the other mamono like the Mantis Girls or Scyllas were doing perfectly fine, if a bit uncomfortable and unbearably horny.

In time, the "scholars" of the current Legion Port just shrugged and threw up their hands, deciding to let Vaal work his magic and figure things out himself when he inevitably got curious about these new life forms. They couldn't figure out at all why the bat-women were dying, so might as well just find some hostile ones later when they continued research.

As such, the Guards of these Succubi were allowed much closer to their cells due to how weak the succubi appeared to be.

A particular pair happened to be standing guard near one's cell, when they noticed a hand weakly reaching out of the bars towards them. Understandably, both of them jumped, immediately aiming their spears at the owner of the hand before remembering they were guarding a weak succubus who looked to be near-death.

They couldn't help but notice she kept on trying to grope their crotch area for whatever reason, as if her life depended on it.

 _"Please... Semen... Just a little bit... Please..."_ the Succubus wheezed, begging for some mercy as the other mamono looked on with pity or tried not to pay attention. However, due to the language barrier, the Legionnaires just looked at each other and shrugged.

"She is _really_ weird," one of the guards mused, "Damn bat-lady keeps on trying to grope our dicks for whatever reason. The hell's wrong with her? She's even worse than the rest of these mamono!"

"I know, right? Really damn annoying. I keep scaring myself thinking it's a Doppelganger trying to rip off my ballsack or something," the other guard said, sighing.

"Ugh, don't remind me of those ugly bastards," he replied, "Those fuckers were straight up depraved. I damn well hope we brought them to extinction."

"I hope so too man... Oh, for Caesar's sake, stop trying to strip away my groin armor!" the Legionnaire shouted, getting extremely tired of the succubus' apparent attempts to have sex with him.

His cohort sighed, shaking his head, "Might as well give her a damn cup full of semen. Wouldn't shock me if a whore like her would down it in one gulp."

"Pfft... Yeah, right. I bet you I can jack off into a cup right now, give it to her, and she won't drink it. Nobody's that fucking disgusting."

"Alright, do it then! I bet you won't!"

"Oh really!? You cover for me for a few minutes, I'll be back with that cup!" the Guard said, marching off to do... "manly" business in private.

The Succubus heard none of this and just figured they were having an argument, and continued her futile attempts to seduce or offer herself up to try and save her own life, much to the remaining guard's annoyance.

In time, the other guard reappeared with a cup in his hand, filled with semen. Where he got it from is and outright _should_ remain undisclosed.

"Alright, I'm back, with a cup full of semen. Ready to see who's right here?" the guard said.

"Do it. Give it to her. Let's see if she's that depraved."

So, the Guard tapped the Succubus on the shoulder, offering the cup to her. She initially looked fairly confused, but soon sniffed out the cup, and smiled from ear-to-ear.

 _"Th-thank you! Oh, may the First bless you! Thank you so much!..."_ she quickly snatched the cup from his hands, and downed the entirety of its contents in a few gulps.

The Guards looked at her as if she just grew two heads, murdered one of their Gods, and fucked Ymir himself to death.

"Aa-Aaaah! AGH! SHE DRANK IT! BY LORD ZENITH ALMIGHTY! SHE DRANK MY FUCKING JIZZ! WHAT THE FUCK!?" the Guard screamed, falling back and slowly sliding back, throwing his hands around as if to ward her off, "AND WHY DOES SHE LOOK SO HAPPY!? WHY DOES SHE LOOK HEALTHIER NOW!?"

"Aaaaah! That's not right! That's not right! Oh, by God, that is _NOT RIGHT!_ What kind of sick, twisted, demonic magic is this!? This is why magic should be banned! By the Gods of Valhalla and the Evil One of Hell, that is depraved! AND HOW THE HELL CAN SHE BE EVEN HEALTHIER THAN BEFORE!?"

"By Zenith, she is worse than a dog!..." the Legionnaire looked around, only to note the envious gazes and jealousy the other mamono were showing towards the currently energetic and happy succubus. "They're... They're **_JEALOUS_** of her!?"

"I'm not paid enough for this... It's one thing to make me stand around all day long, doing jackshit but protect a bunch of weak monster-girls who keep groping or attempting to grope my privates, but _this?_ Watching a woman who was on death's doorstep become so happy and energetic because my friend jacked off into a cup and gave it to her?... Wait... No way... Hold on... I'll be right back," the Guard said, leaving an almost-traumatized Legionnaire behind to take in the idea that there was a monster who lived off of _semen._

Soon enough, the Guard returned with his own cup, and found another one of the bat-women, putting the cup within her cell.

With an astonishing, and quite frankly terrifying amount of speed, the supposedly nearly dead succubus lept towards the cell bars and began to drink down the cup, quickly becoming healthy as well.

It took all the willpower the Guard had to not faint on the spot from his hypothesis being proven true. These women needed, of all things, _semen_ , to survive. It was... unthinkable. Impractical. Vague. All of the definitions of "Why?" put into one example. Why would nature ever let them evolve like this? What kind of God lets this... This **_sin,_** against nature, no, against **creation** exist? Who in Julius' name would ever think to, if they theoretically kept these women as some sort of pet or ally like a few of the monsters the Legion had domesticated, feed them by whipping out their dicks and...

He stopped thinking about it, and just chose to hurdle up in a fetal position and just rock back and forth. He needed time to recover. He wanted to drink himself under a table. He wanted to go home. This land wasn't worth it. These annoying stupid locals and their high-pitched language weren't worth it. Hell, he was thinking _life_ might not be worth it anymore.

His opinion quickly spread among the Port's local guards and researchers upon learning what they'd need to do to keep these succubi alive.

They regretted ever accompanying Archon to this land. They could only hope there was something redeeming about this land they haven't found yet.

 _ **...**_

The Medusa looked on with envy towards the Succubi who were currently getting the special treat of semen every meal once the Legion discovered their apparent need for it. Why couldn't _she_ get that as well? Why did succubi only get to have it? It wasn't fair! Next thing she knows, the succubi are going to be the only mamono allowed to have sex!

Her opinion was shared with many of her fellow prisoners, some of who planned on faking a deathly illness to try and get that same treatment as well. While none of them needed semen to _live_ per say... It didn't mean that it was pretty tasty and an excellent way to live if no other method of feeding themselves were around.

 _Ugh... Of course Succubi get all the attention, as usual. Sure, go for the pretty lady with batwings and a cutesy little tail, don't pay any attention to the girl with snake-hair, no, treat her like a_ _freak!..._ the Medusa thought with envy, laying on her bed. How she'd just _love_ to be on the high side of things for once!... None of this "Not Allowed to Have Sex, Masturbate, Make Loud Noises, Be Annoying, or Anything Else Potentially Entertaining" crap, and nothing about how she was essentially a bird inside a cage.

... Though, she still admitted that this prison-life was far more stable and orderly than the wild ever was. She was fed, given water, bedding, a roof... She couldn't get any of these things out in the wild, because she was always weaker and taken advantage of by other monster-girls. Yet... The urge of just _needing_ to have sex or any form of relief was building up in her. She wanted to more than just a specimen to poke at and take care of, she grew to just want to be a part of this Legion, where she wouldn't be all alone in the world, nor would she be restricted nearly as much as she was now.

And, she did build on that. She tried getting past the language barrier by learning what things meant in their language.

It was kind of successful. She managed to pen a book that got sent to some important figure...

But she failed to memorize and study the language beforehand, so now she was back to square one with writing and understanding their language.

It wasn't very fun, but it was something to do, and it helped take her mind off the treatment the succubi were getting...

 _One day... I want to be with this Legion... I don't want to be out there in the wild anymore. I can barely even survive by myself out there... I want to be strong, like they are..._

* * *

 _ **...**_

Minagi practiced her martial arts, getting a good feel for how much her abilities degraded with this... form, as well as how bad spending so many damn years in that seal truly was.

It was a pretty pathetic performance at first, she had to admit that. This childish body and the thousand years of boredom _really_ hurt her as a fighter, and she wasn't even that good in combat to begin with for someone on the same level as her sisters and the Seraphs. She was always more of a fighter in bed rather than the battlefield.

But, she was sure she'd get better. She was quickly correcting her own flaws and clumsy mistakes as time passed on, until she was sure she wouldn't be beaten by an opponent on her level as easily.

Yet she was still hesitant despite knowing she was getting used to the world again, and still wanted to dedicate more time to getting better, since she never knew whether that petty bitch Ilias was ready and willing to smite her off the face of the planet at any given moment.

Ilias probably didn't know she was back yet to be honest. If she was, Minagi was sure Ilias would've sent at least Eden to investigate and verify, if not descend down herself.

But, tick tock, no one's around these ruins but her, so she concluded she was safe for now.

 _... It's so lonely out here... And I'm starting to get hungry..._ Minagi sighed. She could spend all the time getting ready, but she knew she had to drain a meal soon or else it wouldn't matter if Ilias knew she was back or not.

The diminutive Whore of Babylon soon decided to wander out from the ruins, and head towards a place with succubi, so she could blend in more easily...

As she was flying through the air, she still felt a tad bit too... exposed. Not in the nude sense, hardly, she _loved_ that sense in truth. It was more in the sense that she thought a pure white succubus with six multi-colored wings flying in the skies might set Ilias off no matter how closely she resembled her objectively hotter true form.

She soon saw a wandering traveller, and giggled. She might be able to borrow their cloak or clothes while getting a free meal... and sending him to heaven and back obviously. As for killing him...

 _I'll cross that bridge when I get_ _there,_ Minagi decided, swooping down and quickly subduing the hapless traveller and then, well...

She showed him what the Progenitor of the Succubi could do to please and make someone mad with pleasure.

Once he was thoroughly drained, Minagi soon let him go and cleaned herself up, dressing up in his clothes.

She decided not to focus on how it was far too big for her, especially not on how her chest or ass regions weren't bulging out and were instead just a bunch of folds and wrinkles in the shirt and dress.

As for the man... She would've normally killed him, since she knew he'd never feel anything as good as what he just did ever again, but she needed people to spread the word about her... Well, not her as in the Ancestor Minagi. That would be painting a giant target on her back with the words "Smite me please Ilias~!" plastered all over it.

No, she would rather prefer building up on her reputation again as a new succubus. Not only was it safer, and much easier to seduce men too without them fearing whatever myths and lies Ilias taught them about her, but it gave her a new chance to see things from the bottom again.

And, the concept was fun to her anyways. No need to rely on the image of a being who, for all intents and purposes, died a thousand years ago.

"Fufufufu~... Take care now traveller~... Tell everyone about me, won't you~? Call me the Pure White Devil if you want a name or title to seek for another round~..." Minagi teased, "... Ah, I'm also taking your clothes too. Keep the rest of your stuff. Nothing personal~..."

With that, she flew off, now feeling much more energized and considerably safer from random Holy Smitings.

 _ **...**_

She did always like flying. It was... liberating. Being able to glide through the vast skies, watching everyone from down below... She couldn't really describe it. She just simply loved flying through the skies along with the beautiful sights all around her. It was the kind of feeling only mamono who could also fly like harpies and other succubi could describe.

She even remembered a time before the Great Monster Wars when she was trying to fly out of a thunderstorm, and when she finally got out of it, she saw the sun rising from the horizon. The skies... the lands... everything... Everything was wonderful in that moment. It was like a moment of pure bliss that didn't come from sex, where it was without any stress, concerns, or whatever Ilias might do to enslave the world... A moment of clarity, or pure contentment, in a sense.

What she wouldn't give to see a sight like that again...

 _... Oh, look at that... a village!_ Minagi noticed a relatively minor and quiet frontier settlement, one with... Succubi?

Minagi smirked as she soon descended and folded up her wings to hide underneath her cloak. Things were going relatively well for her right now, all she needed to do was to find the other succubi and _not_ get caught.

She soon roamed around the village, noticing from random conversations from the men and women that this town was apparently called "Succubus Village."

It was painfully ironic to her that the first place the Ancestor of all Succubi finds herself in is named after her own creations.

Taking a few whiffs of the air around her, she soon found out where the two strongest succubi were, and headed to them, lightly knocking on the door.

"Come in~! The door's unlocked!" a friendly and affectionate voice said, inviting her in.

So, Minagi entered, looking up at the other two. They seemed relatively normal. She could tell they had no inhuman or monstrous traits that would've made blending in with human society very hard. One looked to be the Mayor of the village or at least a person of power from how she carried herself, and the other was dressed like some sort of witch or soothsayer.

"U-Um... Hi?..." Minagi stuttered out. She didn't really plan for what she'd actually say to the first mamono she met, in hindsight... Were they friendly succubi? Man-Eaters? Feral Monsters? Did they even have the same traditions and cultures as they did a thousand years ago?

She silently cursed herself for not thinking about this. She bet Tammy would've already been able to talk like a "modern" monster and get these two to reveal everything she needed to know in no time at all.

"Oh?... A Succubus?..." the Soothsayer mused, walking up to the fidgeting Minagi, "What are you doing here without a disguise little one?..."

"I... Um..." Minagi gulped. Well, it was time to lie like no tomorrow now and hope to the First that she didn't contradict herself!

"I... Was attacked... I think... I can't remember much now... My mind's all hazy... All I knew was to find the nearest monster town and hope I could find some answers... I don't even know the year..." she said, figuring amnesia was the best excuse to go with for her ignorance.

"Is that so?..." the Mayor mused, quickly closing and locking the door behind Minagi, "Then, it's likely you don't know how to blend in and disguise yourself among humans. It's a good thing there aren't any experienced monster hunters or heroes in town, otherwise they would've sniffed you out in no time at all."

"Oh..." Minagi simply said. Have the local humans really grown so strong in the past thousand years? "I'm- I'm sorry... I don't mean to cause any disruption or chaos... Just find out what's going on..."

"Don't worry, little one..." the Soothsayer said, "We take care of our own. You'll just have to learn quick. Besides... This'll become a real village for succubi soon enough."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Minagi questioned, tilting her head. She knew succubi never did group up, but they _still_ haven't made a hometown or land for themselves yet? They're _just now_ getting onto that?

 _I guess my creations vary widely in terms of independence and unions..._ Minagi thought as she paid close attention to what the two had to say.

The Mayor smiled, "It's a secret so far... But let's just say there's an ancient pair of twins from Black Alice's time waiting to be freed."

 _Black Alice? Who is that supposed to be?_ Minagi off-handedly thought, "Oooooh... I don't get it, but it sounds good!"

"If our plan goes off without a hitch, then it certainly will be. We might even stand a chance of surviving against those knights if they come here," the Mayor explained, "Even if the Nereneids rejected our plea for help, we'll make it through somehow!"

 _Nereneid? That ancient clan of monsters led by Chronodia way back in the Wars? I thought they were extinct! I guess one of them must've survived somehow..._ Minagi thought as the Mayor and Soothsayer kept on explaining to Minagi the basics and abridged history of the world, as well as modern events.

Minagi soon found herself lost in all the information. This was way too much for her to learn at once... She'd have to think this all over.

The Mayor hummed, wondering if she forgot anything, "... Oh! How rude of me, I forgot to ask for your name!"

Minagi then screamed in her head, wanting to slap herself. Why didn't she think of something as important as that!? There's no way she can just say her name was Minagi! That was both just plain stupid and unbelievable!

"Um... My name?... I think it was..." Minagi thought back to her children. Who was the one that had other succubi named after her the most often?... Not Astaroth... And Lilith wasn't to her taste...

Wait. Morrigan. Her name was usually one given to violent and vulgar succubi if Minagi remembered right. That was perfect! It set a pretty low standard for what she was normally like, and lets her be able to practice martial arts without shocking or surprising anyone.

"My name... Was Morrigan. Morrigan Aensland, the Pure White Devil," Minagi claimed.

"Ooooh~ Fancy title... Fitting too. You are _very_ pale... And quite strong too! My goodness... That's an astounding power you hold..." the Mayor said, lightly patting "Morrigan" on the head.

"Oh, power's no use if I don't know how to use it..." Minagi said, knowing that was a blatant lie that would unravel the second she decided to fight someone seriously.

"And humble? Very interesting... Well, Morrigan, welcome to Succubus Village! The soon-to-be paradise for all succubi!" the Mayor smiled, warmly welcoming her in.

Minagi made a quiet bow, silently happy that things were going well... So far.

* * *

 _ **...**_

The remnants of Agrenor's forces hid out in the sand dunes of Safina Desert, bitter about their defeat. How the hell could they have let themselves get so disorganized and get driven back when Agrenor vanished!?

It was shameful, and they couldn't understand what was wrong with them. Maybe this whole "Thick Armor trumps All" idea wasn't as good as it was in this world, as much as that blatantly violates the Legion Code.

They swore they'd get back at this city known as Sabasa. They would never return to their homes disgraced and defeated by _these_ people.

And, soon enough, they would come to realize they couldn't survive for long in the desert with their heavy armor and slow movements. They needed more speed and agility. But they couldn't allow outsiders or enemies to get ahold of their armor and weapons...

So, they established a base in the crags of the mountains that bordered the Gold and Safina Regions, storing their unused weapons and armor there for future use, as well as their general supplies and makeshift bedding.

The Outcasts came to soon use light-brown cloaks and hoods as a signature of sorts, to blend in with the desert sands and for people to know who they were.

No one would beat the Legion and remain triumphant forever. Not unless they killed and sent every last knight to the Hall of Valor. They would make sure the people of this land learned this, whether they had to carve it into their skulls or through painting their cities with blood...

 _ **...**_

The Legionnaire sitting in Sabasa's Jail grunted in annoyance. He was starting to really dislike these people the more he saw them. Sure, he started to get a pretty good grasp on their language, mostly because he sort of needed to know what the hell they were going to do to him, but it seemed like they weren't going to do anything. At all.

At least not until they recovered from reconstruction and repaired their towers and got a good count of just how badly the battle had devastated the city.

Which, to the Legionnaire, was stupid. If he was in charge, he would've just strung up the prisoners and left them to hang. No need to have another battle in the heart of your city after a battle.

However, he was not in charge. He was in jail.

He decided now was high time to rectify that. He learned of some evil witch imprisoned off to the south of Sabasa by the name of "Lilian." Maybe. Or was it "Lily?" Hard to tell with how scratchy and high-pitched these people were.

The plan was simple. Break out, make a beeline to that village, break the witch out and let her cause havoc and chaos, and slip away into obscurity to hunt the purple-haired runt while Sabasa was busy dealing with her.

At least, he thought they'd be more concerned with her over him breaking out. The guards that sometimes passed by seemed to have talked about her as if she was some demon or monster.

He sighed as he tested the jail bars. He could easily rip one of them out as a weapon and to help slip out of his cell. However, that was likely not a good idea when he was in the center of a city in broad daylight.

No, a better option would be to do it at night-time. Besides, it'll be easier to travel in the desert by night anyways.

So, he waited, resting up until night came by...

 _ **...**_

The sun's intense heat and light was soon replaced by the moon's cooler shine and dim glow, and the Legionnaire saw fit to go ahead and get out of this poor excuse of a jail.

He grabbed onto a rather shaky and rusted bar, and slowly worked on it, in time breaking it off from the rest of the bars and giving enough space for him to slip out.

So, he did so immediately, pacing carefully so as not to disturb any of the other sleeping prisoners. He didn't want them giving him away.

He saw the exit fairly soon, and noted the few guards that were up and about seemed to be concerned about other things. Something about "Missing Princesses" and "Another disappearance."

It was fairly amusing to him that at least this humanity's royalty seemed to enjoy going off on adventures and doing their own things as well. Or at least the young, inexperienced ones.

But, since there was no real attention to the entrance, he just walked out.

He soon realized why security was so damn poor about that place when he got a good look at the exterior. The place was probably _still_ under repairs judging from the broken walls and the guards were probably new or doing other duties considering the corpses and gravekeepers loading them up and carting them away.

Well, he wasn't complaining. He figured out where the general "south" direction was from the position of the moon, and walked off, using a stray piece of cloth as a hood. Once he broke the witch out her prison, and made sure no one was hunting him down, he was certain he could just "borrow" a random map and determine his next destination.

* * *

 _ **...**_

Fatima looked at the bruised and injured knight chained to the wall with distaste. He was still proving to be a massive pain to break, even for an apparently disciplined and strong human commander.

Then again, she never did have much experience with humans that were _this_ strong. Perhaps their minds were naturally much stronger along with their willpower. She wouldn't know, the closest she had ever been to a powerful human was from Kurobara's occasional words about Heinrich so long ago.

She suddenly wished she had actually asked the former Black Triad member more about what Heinrich and other strong humans were like instead of just blowing it off as a bunch of exaggerations.

 _Well... It's too late for that. The only question is how the hell he can still prove to be so annoying even after all the torture we've administered... Or perhaps he's already broken and I simply cannot understand his disgusting language?..._

Fatima sighed, letting her magic-formed whip fade back into the depths of her mantle. Better to just see how Elizabeth's doing rather than pull out her hair trying to understand this blasted knight Elizabeth called "Optio."

"Optio" merely settled for sticking his tongue out at her as she left. He wasn't going to let some blonde bat-bitch get the best of him. He'd sooner jump into a volcano filled with molten lava before letting that happen.

The Vampire Queen dissolved into mists, quickly dispersing and reforming elsewhere in the Citadel, appearing besides Elizabeth.

The flat-chested Noble was currently wrapped up with many bandages and restrained to a bed. Around her were various gifts such as roses from minor slaves, jewelry and other collectibles from the vampires, and a stand to mount "Optio's" armor on, courtesy of Carmilla and Fatima.

Fatima was sure she bought a painting a while back for Elizabeth, but she wasn't sure when it'd arrive. Or if it was even authentic for that matter. But hopefully Elizabeth would see that it was the thought that count...

Or maybe not, considering she was still a bit mad in the head and extremely cranky. It seemed she lost a lot of blood during her fight, and in the process lost a bit of her self-control, leading to her being restrained and held down. It could've been worse though. She could've outright degenerated and turned into a feral beast out of sheer thirst and bloodlust. Why she was still suffering from this problem, Fatima didn't know. She should've recovered after draining a few men dry... Though, she supposed it was possible the nurses and caretakers didn't let Elizabeth do that to keep their cattle count well above zero.

"Milady," Elizabeth seemed to keep herself reserved enough around her Queen, "What is it?"

"Simply making sure you're alright," the Vampire Queen answered, "Do you need more blood right now? Perhaps a bloodbath?"

"I'd like that. If, well, you know... Most of my bones weren't broken or charred," Elizabeth said, biting her tongue to keep her sarcasm to a minimum.

"Mhm. I see. Well, just hold on a moment..." Fatima assured Elizabeth, before briefly departing and reappearing with a random human prisoner, "Drain him. See if it helps."

Elizabeth bared her fangs, and bit down on the confused man's neck with little hesitation.

He squirmed and jerked around for quite a while until the pleasure finally started to kick in, but by then, he was already a withered husk.

Fatima's mantle extended, disintegrating and feasting on what was left of him before looking back at Elizabeth. "Better?"

Elizabeth licked her lips, not letting a single drop of blood go to waste, "Somewhat. It's not enough to heal my wounds at a rapid pace... But it's enough to satisfy my thirst for blood right now."

"Better than nothing," the Vampire Queen decided, to which Elizabeth agreed. "It seems you'll need several more men to drain dry over the next few days to recover. I might not value those worthless dogs, but they are still cattle we've subdued and allowed to live on our domain with our protection. I expect a far more better performance from you the next time I let you deal with these knights, am I understood Elizabeth?"

The Vampire Noble weakly nodded, "O-Of course my Queen. I will not underestimate them anymore, especially near fire."

"Excellent," the Vampire Queen said as she turned to leave, "I wish you a swift recovery Elizabeth, but remember that I _will_ remember this failure..."

With that, she dissolved into mists to attend to other businesses that required her attention, leaving the injured vampire to reflect on what made her lose and what she should have done to win...

* * *

 _ **...**_

Cassandra woke up to the unpleasant sound of clanking footsteps.

 _Wonderful... The Knights decide to return to wherever they came from right before I even get a chance to follow them. I swear humans have the worst timing in the world..._ she thought, swiftly getting up and moving to Emily's bedroom to nudge the scylla awake.

Emily yawned, rubbing her eyes, "Mo-Mother?... Why does Emily have so wake up so soon?... It's not even the crack of dawn."

"They're already leaving. We need to get going _now_ before our chance for power is lost," Cassandra curtly said, glancing over to see Ran already packing up some spare clothing for Emily and other materials. _Good. If my mother did a single thing right, it was hiring Ran as Head Maid,_ Cassandra thought.

"Noooo... Five more minutes Mother... Pleaaase..." Emily murmured, trying to bury her face into the pillow.

 _And if there's one thing **I** didn't do right, it was instilling some discipline into her..._ Cassandra thought with mild irritation before coming up with a rather revolting idea to get Emily up and moving, "Think of it as a world-tour. Do you want to wait until you're much older to travel and see new things?"

"Wh-What!? World-Tour! Wait, Emily's getting ready, she's getting ready!"

It was astounding to Cassandra that her daughter could turn into a yellow blur when she really wanted to. If only she was as young as Emily was, then maybe she'd be a bit happier.

And maybe her hair would look better too for that matter.

She never did quite let go of her hair being torn off.

Either way, Cassandra soon came to the doorstep, with Emily carrying a teddy bear and her spare sets of clothing in a backpack.

"Well, Ran, I'll be leaving now. I'll leave you in charge of managing Lady's Village while I'm gone. Don't let anyone act stupid while I'm gone," Cassandra formally ordered, before giving a soft smile. She was sure Ran would handle the place just fine...

Ran closed her eyes and smiled before looking back at her mistress, "Of course Lord Cassandra. Everything will still be here when you return. Take care!"

Cassandra simply began to leave and follow the knights, while Emily eagerly waved goodbye to Ran as she bolted off with her mother.

Ran paused for a few moments, looking around to make sure it wasn't some farce or test.

When she was sure, she immediately sighed. She'd cut and style the garden and make up the two's beds later, right now she wanted a long bath and a nice long time to... relieve herself. It was a fun, _mostly_ safe, and certainly well-paying job to work under the Nereneids, but by the First could it be hard to constantly please and do everything in her power to make sure they were happy!

... And then she also remembered she needed to collect on a bet between her and the other madames and noblewomen of Lady's Village about who the ruling Nereneids would place in charge if they ever needed to leave for some reason.

 _ **...**_

"Aw shit, the big red slime and tiny yellow octopus are following us..." one of the Scouts mused. Archon had woken up and briefly wondered what the hell was going on, before the others explained what was going on to him.

Then he intelligently decided he did not fancy trusting the big red slime who seemed to hate him, and simply left through the front door with his small group. He had a lot of soldiers to lead for war and by Caesar he will have that war, Big Red Slime or no Big Red Slime.

"Fuck 'em. They wanna follow us? Let them follow us. I'm not going to be deterred from our glorious war by them. They earned the right to follow us when Red over there knocked me out," Archon said, walking on without batting an eye at the duo.

"What about the little girl then? She's way too young to be following us to war!"

"Meh, she'll probably be fine. Don't act as if she's going to die that easily. She has to be following Red over there for a reason. They must share a relationship of sorts. Like that 'Sym-bo-tic relationship' stuff Vaal and his mages keep throwing around when describing two different monsters being together."

"True, true. Well, I guess it's at her risk... Should we send them to the Port City?"

"I dunno. Maybe. They can go where they want to go. They're not under my command," Archon and the others soon arrived, with Archon quickly spurring the Legion back to life and readiness to return to action.

And, for the most part, they just ignored the weird yellow octopus and tall red woman. They probably weren't too much to worry about.

Cassandra and Emily in the meanwhile spent more time observing and learning from these men, attempting to learn their language... If they learned it, then maybe who and what they were dealing with would become much, much clearer...

* * *

 _ **...**_

Within the Monster Lord's Castle, in the depths of Hellgondo, the Four Heavenly Knights held a meeting. Normally, Alice would preside as the leader, but since she was off with Luka, Tamamo filled in for her.

Tamamo's tails twitched and waved around as she looked around. Granberia, seemingly bored and waiting for the meeting to actually take place, as usual. Alma Elma, idly playing with her tail and humming lightly, to no surprise. And Erubetie, as emotionless and hard to read as ever. Annoying, but at least it's normal.

"Right, everyone," Tamamo began, "We currently have the Hero Luka running around with the Monster Lord herself. I for one do not care, as long as Lady Alice is careful, but I want to gather your opinions on the subject."

Granberia glanced up, "The purple-haired runt? He's certainly strong, but not a threat yet. Any of us could kill him if he grew to be troublesome or malevolent, but since he has Angel Halo and is accompanied by Alice, I hardly expect he'll turn fully to Ilias' dogma anytime soon."

Alma giggled, "Little Luka-boy~? I think he's cute. Far too innocent for affairs like these, but he can dream on about his 'heroism and coexistence~...'"

Erubetie remained silent, "I don't care for him. He lives, he lives. He dies, he dies."

"You do realize Erubetie that you'll inevitably meet him soon, right? He's likely heading for Undine as we speak," Tamamo warned.

"And last I heard, he was just now leaving the Safina Region. I will return in time to deal with him," Erubetie monotoned.

Deciding to ignore Erubetie's unwillingness to discuss the Hero, Tamamo moved on, "It seems we have reports for help about a 'demon' in Yamatai. I'll investigate myself when I can. And it appears we have reports from Queens about a mysterious girl claiming to be Black Alice approaching them..."

The other three perked up at the mention of this supposed "Black Alice" approaching Monster Queens.

Granberia spoke up first, "Who is this person claiming to be 'Black Alice?' What does she look like?"

"It appears that she apparently resembles a little girl with blonde hair and a blue dress and bow, along with a brown teddy bear. Any of you who read through history will know this was her iconic look back then..." Tamamo mused. The girl certainly had the looks and name down, but she couldn't jump to conclusions yet. She was certain that Monster Lord was slain by Heinrich over 500 years ago... It would be nothing short of impressive for a Monster Lord to have lived that long while simultaneously keeping up the act that she was dead.

Then again, her sister did keep up the family line in her absence, and Black Alice had no children. It would've been easy for her to cut all ties to Hellgondo and vanish when she was defeated, but for someone like Black Alice to keep quiet for well over 500 years? Impossible. Sure, the current Vampire Queen had been ruling since Kurobara became a member of the Black Triad and eventually perished, but she wasn't as important as the Fateburns, nor as likely to die by a band of heroes...

"Hm. I think I'll investigate each of the Queens who have expressed their dissatisfaction with the current Monster Lord's regime," Granberia volunteered, "I'll make sure to investigate the Elf, Fairy, Mermaid, and Vampire Queens. I'll also ensure that the Spider Princess isn't stepping out of line as well."

"Noted," Tamamo said, dully writing that down, "Speaking of which, the Vampire Queen has stated she captured a commander of the knights that invaded Sabasa."

Granberia and Alma perked up, while Erubetie seemed disinterested.

"Ara ara~ Has the Vampire Queen gotten anything out of him~?" Alma said, curious in what the knight was like... in more ways than one.

Tamamo furrowed her brow, clearly interested but unsatisfied, "Nothing. 'Either he's too strong-willed or just plain unable to tell us because of the language barrier,' she said. She wants to keep him for herself as her servant 'earned' him herself, but we do have laws against that... And I think I'd be able to learn their language and get some information out of him faster anyways. I don't think we'll need anyone too special to deal with him however when we escort him into the castle."

Alma giggled, "I call dibs on him~!"

 _"No._ Not until he's expended his use anyways. He might not be important himself, but the information he likely has to offer is too important to risk you draining him dry," Tamamo sharply said, making Alma sigh in disappointment.

Granberia simply thought off, wondering how skilled he was. She would admit, she quite enjoyed the prospect of a human civilization that had a culture that put some damn backbone into their soldiers and citizens rather than pray to some feeble Goddess for protection and to one day smite all their enemies off the face of the Earth. Why did they wait for her when they could've just done their holy crusades themselves?

Of course, she could only observe things from a distance. She and the others weren't quite allowed to interact with the new nation until they made their aggression towards Hellgondo and all of monsterkind very clear, as Lord Alipheese preferred to instead just gently guide them towards San Ilia and the Ilias Continent to help rid the world of those false heroes while attempting diplomacy with them.

Smart, but frustrating. Granberia wanted to fight! Not spend time sitting down looking fancy while Alipheese talked to them. Yes, it was the better path, but she didn't even know the last time when a human was skilled enough to so much as challenge a lamia without being instantly knocked out, much less a group of them carving their mark on an entire region.

Tamamo hummed, feeling like she was forgetting something. "... Ah! Granberia, I want you to also investigate the Spider Princess at length. Reports said she was apparently allying with either Grangold or the Legion, but it seems too hard to tell right now. If she is allied with the Legion, I want you to try and get her to report everything she learns about them."

Granberia nodded, now a slight spark of hope forming in her that she'd get to see what these new humans were like, even if she had to put up with an arrogant and disgusting monster like the Spider Princess.

Erubetie suddenly spoke up, slightly surprising the group, "Is the Spring at risk for an attack?"

The Nine-Tailed Kitsune hummed, "... I don't think so? I think it's far more likely they'll attack Grand Noah and other surrounding settlements before bothering to try and investigate a cave behind a waterfall. I'll be sure to keep you updated on that, Erubetie."

The Slime Queen said nothing back, simply content to know there was a good chance those miserable apes would kill each other sooner before arriving to her kind's last sanctuary.

Granberia spoke up, "What about Yamatai, Plansect, and Lady's Villages? Those seem to be our biggest concern when it comes to the Legion's March."

"Them?" Tamamo thought off, "Yamatai would be hard to siege. It's isolated, surrounded by jungles and mountains, and has plenty of powerful monsters roaming around. Lady's Village... I believe the Legion is already there. It is up to them to defend themselves by that point. But Plansect Village... They might require help evacuating. Put a temporary end to their war if you deem it necessary to keep them alive."

"Understood," Granberia said, "... Say, Alma, isn't Succubus Village inhabited by succubi? You might be able to get some favor points with your people if you were to help them out."

"Ahahaha~... I don't think I'm needed there," Alma whimsically said, appearing to not care at all.

But, before Granberia could voice her outrage and annoyance, Alma decided to explain, "The Purple Sabbath's about to happen, and I hear they're doing something big, so they should be protected well enough. Besides... It's not inhabited by succubi. It's a human village that got its name because the silly locals keep believing that when the Purple Sabbath happens, a huge swarm of succubi appear... How silly and misguided they are~..."

"Oh? Don't you think that the Purple Sabbath could be _far_ bigger if the Queen Succubus herself participated or at least oversaw it?" Granberia pretended to idly ask, knowing fully well that Alma would do something if her curiosity got peaked.

The Succubus Queen hummed, apparently having not considered that, "It _is_ an interesting idea... I think I might actually go there now. 'Kyuba' can wait for a while... I want to see what happens if I try to participate in the Purple Sabbath~..."

Granberia smirked smugly. Alma was always easy to tempt like that.

Tamamo in the meanwhile sighed at how easily Alma changed her mind. _Well, at least she's not nearly as bad and prone to sudden mood swings and plan changes as her mother was..._

"Well?" Tamamo then asked, "Does anyone else have any concerns that should be brought up?",

Nobody answered.

"Then, this meeting is adjourned," Tamamo softened up, ceasing her businesslike attitude almost immediately, "See you all later!"

Granberia waved as she teleported off, Erubetie remained silent as she vanished, and Alma flew off with a gust of wind and a parting smile.

Tamamo soon sighed, looking a bit irritated at all the documents and reports she had gotten lately, "So much news in so little time... It'll take me forever to get through all of this... I need some fried tofu..."

* * *

 _ **...**_

Lord Zenith looked absently at the map, before noting that Spider-Ruler Lady was _still_ in his tent. Yes, he thought it was important that they properly get to know each other for their alliance, but _why_ was she still here!? Doesn't she have, well, spider-woman things to do?

"Well, where do you plan on going next, darling?" Charlotte said. She thought she might as well attempt to treat him like her husband already, and get to marrying him once they did their conquest.

"... Uh..." Zenith looked at the map. He quite frankly had no idea where to go. He supposed he could keep marching on through to this Noah Region, but seeing that "capital" called Grangold was _so_ tempting...

"... Wait. What does Darling mean?" he said abruptly, confused. He never heard or learned of what that word meant in his crude dictionary.

Charlotte giggled for a bit, before realizing he was serious. "It... It's a nickname, something you use to address loved ones."

"Loved ones?"

"Like..." Charlotte trailed off, not ever really knowing much about love, previously thinking she'd always wind up just remaining unmarried or none of her challengers would win that bet she made. "... It's like a term for husband?..."

"Husband? I don't know what that means either," Zenith simply said, unaware of what that word meant as well. What was this crazy spider going on about? Probably some bizarre local culture thing.

"... Like, you're my Husband, and I'm your Wife," Charlotte said, thinking that might explain it.

Zenith quietly tapped away at the table, silent and very much looking like he was bemused despite wearing a helmet.

"... As in, I'm your 'Honey,' and you're my 'Darling,'" Charlotte explained, wondering why this concept was so hard to get through his head.

Zenith continued to tap away at the table, looking around a bit nervously. He didn't know what she was talking about, and it was driving him _insane._ He _hated_ looking like an idiotic buffoon, but that's _exactly_ what was happening right now— He was an idiotic buffoon who didn't have a clue what she was talking about.

Charlotte started to look irritated, "Do you even know what I'm talking about?"

"Uh..." Zenith decided to try and change the topic, "... Why are you still in my tent?... What about your Clan?..."

Charlotte waved it off, "They'll be fine. Is _your_ Legion going to be fine while you're still in this tent?"

Octavius had to admit she had a point there. The two sides wouldn't devolve into pandemonium overnight just because their leaders weren't constantly giving out orders.

"But, back to my point..." the Spider Princess hissed, "Do you know what marrying means?"

Lord Zenith blinked underneath his helmet, "... To make an alliance between two different nations?"

She resisted the urge to facepalm, "... No. It's to take me as your spouse."

Zenith chose not to ask again what that word meant out of fear for receiving a katana to the face, but she could tell he didn't understand.

"To make me your mistress," she tried again, adding slight affection and lust to her tone to try and get him to comprehend.

She was met with an awkward silence again.

"... You idiot! It means to make me your lover! Wife! Partner for life! Family!" she shouted, her patience finally breaking with him.

He was about as still as a statue, still contemplating what these strange words meant. He knew he really should investigate what these "Family" and "Love" words translated to in his language so he could finally get a proper idea of what in Caesar's name this Spider was on about.

Seemingly done with her (admittedly lackluster) attempts to seduce and get him to understand what marriage meant, Charlotte stormed off, pushing past nearby Arachnes and Legionnaires.

Octavius simply stared on, wondering what she was so annoyed about. _"Crazy Locals and their backwater niche vocabulary..."_ he muttered in his natural language, going back to staring at a map of this new world and wondering where the hell to go from here...

 _ **...**_

Arana and Mizuki noticed their Queen storming off away from the Legion Lord's tent, apparently flustered and embarrassed.

"You bet she tried to get him to accept her proposal?" Mizuki said, giggling.

"My goodness... She's just refusing to break her promise when it comes to that bet..." Arana shook her head in exasperation, "I knew that bet of hers would backfire someday. I _knew_ it would!"

Mizuki nudged her comrade slightly, "Come on, find some amusement in this. At least she's going to lay claim to a powerful human for a mate. That certainly isn't something you see with most nobles or royalty nowadays, most of us are forced to just pick some random human and use them to make a child before casting them aside, and inevitably that leads to the potency of our bloodline and descendents becoming diluted and weaker... And come on. She's been a violent warlord all her life, and now one of the best prizes she'll ever find in life has to be earned through love. Don't tell me that isn't ironic and hilarious to see her try to be 'loving' and 'affectionate!'"

"It makes her look bad," Arana said, clearly grumpy as she skewered a piece of meat and began cooking it over a fire, "The Arachne Clan can't afford to look weak. We are the strongest insect-type mamono kingdom in the world! No one can rival us, not the Queen Ant's colonies, not the Bee Queen's hives, not the distant Moth kingdoms in that far-off region of Lant, not even the former Cockroach Kingdom could rival us! I simply cannot imagine what it would be like if our Queen was seen doing something so... so humiliating!"

"Pffft..." Mizuki giggled, "If anything, the other insect queens would see that as a possibility she's changed for the 'better' and would be more willing to put her back on the throne of Queen Insect. Besides... Last I heard, Queen Ant and the Bee Queen are both still very much single. Where are _their_ love interests, hmm? Are they so heartless and cold that they don't see a single worthy man to be their mate?"

Arana scowled, "Your lack of concern about our reputation is worrying, Tsuchigumo."

"Ooooh, don't worry Arana..." Mizuki teased, pointing at Luzbel nearby, "Just because our Queen found love before you doesn't mean you won't find someone too~! Maybe big and spiky over there is more in your tastes, hm? All dark and intimidating, probably likes bondage like you!"

"Wh-WHAT!?" Arana shouted, "I will choose who I am interested in, thank you very much! You want the big tincans so much, go for it! Don't project your fantasies onto me!"

"Who said I was? Maybe he's just not your type, right? Maybe you like the smaller, more innocent types, right~?" Mizuki said, getting a massive kick out of this, "Ooooh... What about that one short boy... What was his name? Luka Hein? Maybe you'd like a shota, riiight~? You both have purple hair after all... Maybe it's 'destiny~!'"

"Will... Will you stop mocking me!?" Arana said, taking her skewered meat out of the fire and blowing on it softly to cool it down.

Mizuki giggled, tapping the Arachne Lord on the shoulder, "Let me have my fun Arana. Oh look, there's Nacha! Hey Nacha!"

The Atlach-Nacha "looked up" slightly, hearing her nickname fairly well as she moved towards the two arachnes, "Greetings, Mizuki, Arana. I assume you two want something of me?"

Arana grumbled, chewing up some of the meat off her skewer, "Mizuki is just being annoying again. You noticed Lady Charlotte earlier, right?"

Nacha nodded, "She seemed quite upset and highly furious. Did something happen?"

"Probably just her overreacting to something she's not used to," Mizuki idly said, now skewering her own meat, "I bet she tried to marry the knight lord over in that tent but failed. From the looks of it, seems to me it's not that he rejected her, but more that he probably just didn't care or doesn't understand."

"I see..." Nacha mused, "It will be a challenge she has to beat and earn herself. I have no experience with love myself, so I have no advice to give."

"Neither do I," Arana said inbetween bites.

Mizuki looked at the both of them incredulously, " _Neither_ of you ever tried seducing or sweet-talking a man into willingly giving himself up for you two?"

"I let the rape do all the talking when it comes to charms," Arana said dismissively, shrugging it off.

"As do I. Much easier to captivate and enslave a man through sex rather than bother going through the trouble of getting him to drop his guard or make him love me," Nacha agreed.

 _Well, anyone can see why you have to rely on rape Nacha..._ Mizuki thought, before simply shuddering. "I am _glad_ our Queen isn't receiving love advice from you two. Sheesh... 'To make him love you, just rape him~!' That is an _awful_ idea for this situation..."

Arana seemed apathetic, "If you care about this stupid dilemma so much Mizuki, go help and advise Queen Charlotte yourself. I know I don't want to and don't have the capability of helping her with this mental warfare..."

Mizuki hummed, "I might... Or I might just tease and mislead her instead... I don't know. I'll figure it out eventually. For now, I can relish in this oh-so amusing situation..."

The Three Arachnes seemed to agree-to-disagree, all choosing to gossip and talk about other things instead while eating in the encampment...

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hello again everyone, I've brought another chapter a bit sooner than expected, which is nice. Not much for me to really say, other than to tell me what you all think so far in either a PM or Review! I really appreciate the input and opinions you all send my way.

And, I do believe I have one review to answer...

 **Fish on Land:** I did decide to go with making the Spider Princess originally have been a Miko Arachne, since their clothes were similar and she herself was said to have come from Yamatai.

Thank you! I was hesitant on how well-written that scene was, since I'm not quite used to big battles yet, but I knew mamono would have advantages over the dumber, more animalistic monsters of Death Mountain. You can expect some laughs out of their situation, considering the Spider Princess seemed quite insistent on marrying Luka after their fight in Paradox.

Ah, good to see their "understanding" was a bit touching. Ymir was one of the last truly heart-pounding fights Zenith had before he spent a long time sitting on the throne in boredom. As for Typhon... That will be seen later.

I made sure to make a correction there. My apologies about that!

And, without further ado... I'll see you all next chapter! Have a good day everyone!

* * *

 _ **...**_

 _ **Vaal's True Facts About The Mamono: Succubus Guide**_

Hello everyone, this Xibalba Broadcast is brought to you by Lord Zenith's blessings, and a few Legionnaire corpses.

We also made massive improvements, such as having R. Emus _not_ writing this script.

So, without much else to say, let's hop right into today's guide about the "Succubus."

Now, first off, Succubi come in many, _many_ different forms.

Some come in freakish blue-skinned loli forms with bulging tails and mouths on their wings.

Some are just filthy lolis with crystals for horns and a really, really deep and twisted fetish for necrophilia—

Wait, I'm sorry, what?

Necrophilia? Shouldn't it be Necromancy for this case?

Oh, whatever. Let's move on past from the runts. People think of busty, voluptuous women anyways when someone says Succubus.

Some succubi, and by that I mean almost all modern succubi, are quite human actually.

Some were even human before being turned into succubi, but that's a matter for Blue Sabbaths and death-trap villages...

These succubi are quite hard to tell from normal humans, if they're disguised and blending into the crowd.

However, a few factors give them away, such as their eye colors, which come in Red, Yellow, and Violet in order from common to rare.

Other factors include their hair, which is sometimes a natural purple or red.

But with all these humans cropping up with purple hair and some other dying theirs, it's getting hard to rely on that.

So, to help even further, look closely at their heads. Sometimes they'll assume a giant hat or shawl is enough to cover their heads, and leave them horns uncovered by illusions.

Veeery sloppy, but hey, gives you a free shot at surviving.

Now, shockingly enough, it's not unusual for a succubus to wear some clothes while in public, instead of prancing around naked all the time.

Strange. Hell, one ancient succubus known as "Lilith" was known to weave and wear sweaters for God's sake.

For a race called the SUCK-cubus, probably for the fact that they literally suck men to death, they really do have some self-decency.

Perhaps self-conscience? A tiny, mangled bit of decency?

A lack of faith in how their looks are like?

Or maybe it's just so they can striptease or act as strippers.

Fuck if I know. I'm just a human, and we don't have any succubi local here to interview.

Well, we do, but they're much more violent and slightly a bit more retarded and would probably rip my throat out, so wisely I chose not to kidnap and interview them.

But, interestingly enough, they are martial artists.

But you won't see that often, because it's usually the ancient or noble ones that practice martial arts in public. Other succubi who practice it tend be ashamed they aren't absolute whores like the others and isolate themselves to train as a result.

If you do manage to get to see a succubus performing martial arts, you're probably fucking dead, so we won't cover what they usually do. Just know you're walking out with at least a broken pelvis.

So, in short, succubi are living sex machines that literally have the pronunciation of "Suck" in their species' names.

It must suck for the women who want their husbands to remain faithful to them after being raped by a succubus.

They are essentially sex-hungry bat-women who exhume sex at almost every second, even more than the usual mamono, which along with Minagi's own "achievements," results in succubi being Ilias' most hated monster race.

Imagine being so reputed for your stealth and rapes that out of all the species out there, the Goddess hates you the most.

That is how the Succubus do.

So, just remember to be wary of women with any weird eye or hair-colors, and to be careful of pissing off a martial artist succubus. You will regret it.

Anyways, that is all the time we have today for "Vaal's True Facts About The Mamono," we will see you all next broadcast.

Aaaaaand stop.

Surprisingly good performance there. Hardly any R. Emus idiocy clotting it up.

Hm? He was the editor this time? Guess that explains why it's a bit stupi...

For Caesar's Sake, how many times do we have to go through this!? Shut the damn thing off when the broadcast's ov—!


	10. Father Death

_**...**_

Cassandra and Emily quietly sat away from the circles of knights gathered around campfires.

"Mother... Emily still doesn't understand them. She doesn't understand their language..." Emily said, both disappointed at not learning and slightly angry at having to learn another language in the first place.

Cassandra didn't seemed to care, simply saying, "We will learn in time Emily. You'll begin to make connections and come to understand their grammar... For now, relax. The main goal is to find whatever these men slaughter anyways. Having them in our pocket as allies or servants is just a convenient gain we could have while eating..."

"Speaking of eating... Emily wants to prey on a man again... Should Emily attempt to kill one of their wounded?"

 _It hasn't been a week and she's already tempted..._ Cassandra sighed, "I'll spoil you this once Emily. Just stay here and I'll take someone who's almost dead... With any luck I might even assimilate their memories and learn their language..."

Emily smiled, "Righto~! Emily'll practice her singing in the meanwhile~!"

Cassandra chose to ignore the second part of Emily's sentence as she wandered around the large encampment. She was honestly surprised at how civilized these barbarians could be, when they weren't trying to hack apart and butcher the nearest moving thing, and their mages were certainly fascinating... Human Mages weren't something you saw everyday. Perhaps this... subspecies? Subtype? Whatever one might classify these strange humans as, possessed a greater affinity for magic. Perhaps they simply evolved to grow stronger over time, instead of sucking up to Ilias and her "Blessed" Heroes to do all the work for them and staying weak like Sentora's humans.

 _I do wonder though... Where did they come from? How on Earth did they stay out of this continent's affairs for so long? Surely humans couldn't have evolved at two separate places at once and remained mostly similar to each other in terms of basic biology... Unless Ilias lied and covered up the truth about Humanity's creation as well..._ Cassandra mused, soon picking up on a scent coming from a tent. It appeared some wounded and unconscious knights were lying around on cots, resting up from their wounds and injuries. The fresh wounds seemed to have been inflicted mostly by the local Monster-Girls, though she did note faint scars that didn't match most common monster-girls... More evidence that the blood she tasted did indeed belong to a previously unheard of creature...

She simply looked around, noting none of the men were really paying attention, and just walked over nearby two isolated injured knights, dragging them off and then well... Cassandra lived up to the name of a fearsome and ruthless monster like always with one of the men... Though it wasn't really ruthless. Or fearsome for that matter. Just picking off some already near-dead men to feed herself and her daughter... She'd be sure to at least make sure the remaining man couldn't think or scream anymore however. The last thing she needed was Emily's sadism getting the both of them chased out and stuck back to square one.

Soon assimilating the brain of the man, Cassandra noted that the language seemed to correlate a lot with how the ancient mamono and humans spoke. She never did read up on the history of Sentora's language and how it evolved, since it was stupid to even care about it when that hag Ilias herself spoke in the same language as everyone else instead of stubbornly sticking to what people said in the old times.

Well, until now anyways, where it seemed these humans had a language and writing system similar to said ancients.

Disregarding her temporary tangent there, Cassandra soon returned with Emily, giving her the body of the man.

"Aw. He's already unconscious? Can he even feel anything at this point?" Emily said, disappointed.

"Be grateful I'm even willing to take this chance Emily. Be quick about finishing him off and make sure to dispose of the body _far_ away from here," Cassandra said strictly.

"Ye-Yes Mother, thank you Mother..." Emily stuttered, before going in to feast.

When all was said and done, the two had their meals, and decided that their next human meal would probably be in the next village these knights attacked. This time was too risky for Cassandra's tastes.

"Now, Emily, do you remember any lessons on how the Ancient Mamono and Humans spoke?" Cassandra said, deciding she may as well teach Emily something about the Legion's Language now that she knew it from that man's brain.

"Uhm... Emily sort of remembers? Wasn't really important. It changed over time, and that's about it," Emily answered, unsure of why her mother was bringing this up.

"Well... It was more important than even I thought it was. Let me teach you a few things..." Cassandra said, beginning to teach Emily...

 _..._

In time, one of the Legionnaires noted the weird Red Slime and Yellow Squid talking in their language.

"Hey... Is it just me, or are they talking in our language?" he mused to one of his friends.

"Eh? They do speak in our language now? That was damn fast. Maybe Red over there has some sort of super-learning ability or adaptation, like some of the monsters back at home. She certainly seems smart, and who knows if she ate one of ours or not when Centurion Archon duelled her."

"Hmph, none of my concern what Archon did. As far as I'm concerned, he got his ass kicked biting off more than he could chew. Just as long as she keeps in mind that she isn't our boss then I'm fine with letting her and the tiny squid follow us."

"Why don't we get to know them anyways if they're speaking our language? Might as well get to know 'em. Never did know a sentient monster before that didn't want to rip my face off."

The Legionnaires looked at each other, thinking about it, before deciding to make room for the two around the campfire.

 _..._

"And that should conclude our lesson for today. Did you understand all of that?" Cassandra said, looking at Emily expectantly.

"Yeah... Emily thinks she does. It's confusing though..."

"Well, it would be too for me if not for the fact I just ate and assimilated one of them... So, don't worry. Take your time," Cassandra said, patting Emily on the head.

 _"Hey! Red! Yellow! Over here,"_ a voice called out to them, alerting the two to a knight calling them, _"Come on over. Go ahead and take a rest near the campfire."_

Cassandra felt slightly irritated and degraded at just being called "Red," but she did concede that she never did really introduce herself to them. Besides, now might be a good time to collect information from them concerning her true goals...

So, the two did come nearby, taking a seat near the others.

 _"Greetings, Knights, I am Cassandra Nereneid, and this is my daughter Emily. It's a pleasure to meet you,"_ Cassandra said, hoping silently that she didn't botch anything up.

 _"Nice to meet you, Ca-san-dra-ner-en-eyed. Jeez... Ca-san-dra-ner-en-eyed, long name you have there, seems hard to pronounce. Mind if I just call you Cassie? And when did you learn to speak our language anyways?"_

Cassandra decisively did **_not_** like being called "Cassie," but chose to ignore it. She didn't want to make a bad impression on them just yet. And as for language... Well obviously she can't say that she learned it by eating one of their own... _"I simply have a keen ear and eye. I don't think I've quite mastered how to speak your language fluently."_

 _Technically_ true. She didn't feel comfortable speaking that low or pronouncing each syllable with as much emphasis, but she already knew a majority of it.

 _"Oh, I see, I see. You're oddly smart for a fleshy red slime. Where did you learn to make that human lure?"_

 _"Human lure? This isn't a lure, this is my real body. And I'm not a slime, I'm an amoeba..."_ She wondered just how much they were getting wrong about her if they legitimately thought her human parts were just some lure...

 _"Ooooh... Well, what about the yellow squid near you, Emily, I think she's called?"_

 _"My daughter? She's a scylla. What about it?"_

The Legionnaire simply hummed in thought, before wondering, _"Wait, daughter? You two barely look alike in your true forms according to Centurion Archon..."_

Cassandra made sure to note that. Archon is probably that major tincan who stabbed her in... that area, back in their duel. She supposed she was right when assuming that he held some form of power over the other legionnaires.

 _"I have many different genes collected from my prey and inherited from my mother and ancestors. It just so happened the Scylla genes dominated when I was pregnant with her, so she became a scylla."_

 _"Huh... I see then..."_

It grew quiet for a bit as the other knights began to eat their food, before Cassandra decided to ask her own questions.

 _"So... Who are you? Why are you here, waging a war? Not that I mind, but... I've never heard or seen your civilization before now..."_

 _"Eh?... That? We're the Legion. We conquered our land, so we sought out a new land to wage war against. We truly adore and love war... The idea of battling and killing in glorious battle, the pride gained from your conquests and achievements, the sweet embrace of death in a grand, final battle... That is what all true warriors strive for! To fight on, in the name of Lord Zenith, in the name of our Gods, until we fall in fair combat and enter the Hall of Valor in Valhalla..."_

 _"I see..."_ Cassandra thought on that, thinking about it. It certainly explained their bloodthirsty nature, though how they came to be like that was a question in of itself... And one that she'd have to wait to ask about.

 _"If I might ask, who is Lord Zenith? Who are your Gods?..."_ Cassandra questioned, figuring they probably weren't really gods. Ilias would be a God. Alipheese the First would be a God. But she doubted the gods of this Legion were truly divine.

 _"Lord Zenith is the strongest man on Earth,"_ the Legionnaire said with perhaps some of the most awe and admiration Cassandra saw anyone have in their lifetime, _"He was the one to slay Ymir and his brothers, and the first to truly hold the Legion's undying loyalty since Caesar himself. He is the greatest among us all..."_

 _Well, that might be impressive if I knew who Ymir even **was...** _Cassandra thought with slight contempt. "Strongest Man" her ass, that title belonged to Heinrich, as much she hated the Legendary Hero.

 _"I see... Mind telling me some of your history? I'm quite interested now..."_ Cassandra then said, figuring it couldn't hurt to pass the time by learning more and more about these people, and maybe she'd even learn more about where they came from while they talked.

 _..._

The Legionnaires couldn't help but admit that Cassie was a bit weird. She had a really long name, and seemed oddly interested in their tales and history.

Well, maybe she was just naturally like that. Who was to say these weird local monsters didn't have their nerds and eccentrics too?

"Well... I guess I can tell you about the tale of the Mad Hero Bellerophon...

"Bellerophon was perhaps one of the greatest heroes among his time. He fought high and low, over the mountains and under the seas, up in the skies of the Acropolis and down in the disgusting depths of the Necropolis. He was like Caesar in a sense, and unified our people against the threat of the monsters... Well, the monsters that were in our land anyways. He scoured through the Palace of Winds, defeating the ghastly Egotistical Countess and Envious Chancellor that haunted its ruins, he drove off Grendal's raids, and so much more..."

Cassandra again, failed to see why that was so special. She knew nothing of why this was so important or so awe-inspiring.

"Then, he came to his downfall... He led his soldiers through Amourian's Forest Labyrinth, through Pyrove's Burning Trials, through the Traitor's Stone Towers, but alas... His downfall came when the Demon Deatheye inspired hysteria and panic among his soldiers at the Shadow Temple... His people broken again from fear and paranoia, and refusing to follow the man they once praised as a God, Bellerophon fled into the jungles, taking a cult of fanatics with him... They say to this day, even hundreds of years after his downfall, he's alive... but not in the way he once was. They say he became so controlled and broken by his grief and fear of what was to happen to his people, that Deatheye turned him into a monster!... And to this day, we believe he dwells in the jungle, ruling over a false, broken legion of madmen and fanatics, a puppet to chaos puppeting a Mad Tyrant of the Jungle..."

Cassandra nodded. She decided it was relatively fascinating, and quite amusing... Especially the part about becoming a monster. It was a fitting fate for anyone who tried exterminating them. Now if only that happened to Heinrich... "An interesting story... Shall I tell one of my family in return?"

The Legionnaires chuckled and nodded, "Sure, go on and tell us."

Cassandra cleared her throat, and spoke, "This heralds back to a thousand years before us, when the Dark Mistress still walked the Earth and the Beelzebubs' Island still floated in the seas. Long ago, there was a creation of the Dark Goddess, known as Chronodia Nereneid, the founder and progenitor of me and my daughter's clan. She was said to be as beautiful as can be, with a heart as black as a New Moon. She was one of the Dark Mistress' favorite creations, besides the Six Great Ancestors of course. In fact, she was to be the Second Monster Lord and ruler of all mamono once Alipheese the First either chose to rest from her godly duties or vanished... But, then the Goddess Ilias and her angels chose to wage war against mamono. They fought back, obviously, resulting in a long, enduring cycle of bloodshed, destruction, slavery, and genocide between mamono and angels, with humans caught in the middle."

"Naturally, my Clan gave everything they had to help our Goddess out in the war, and how it tore us down. We were once the mightiest and rightful heirs to the Monster Lord's Throne, our Goddess' Favorites! But, in the end, all that was left was Chronodia, and a single family line where all future generations of Nereneid are descended from. The last family line went into hiding to preserve our bloodline and claim to the throne, while Chronodia kept fighting on, leading her forces against the Heavens, only to fall in the end by Seraph Micaela's hands... or so they say and assume. Perhaps she's merely sealed... Ilias is known for lying after all to anyone who knows a _thing_ about her true nature."

"Regardless, my family line came back in later on to claim the throne, only to find a usurper family known as the Fateburns had been chosen to rule... And we have never gotten the throne since then. My family: the Nereneids, and the usurpers that took our throne: the Fateburns... We have never gotten along. And we will never stop fighting to reclaim what should rightfully be ours..."

The Legionnaires hummed, intrigued greatly, "Fascinating... I wish you luck in reclaiming that throne. You seem like the ruler-type."

Cassandra was startled for a bit. She had never been told that before from anyone but Ran and Emily... She supposed it came partly from her lack of explaining the policies each side had, but still... It was nice having someone tell her that she could take the throne...

"... But, enough of reflecting on the past. I should focus on the future and claim the throne _now_ instead of wishing that we had it long ago. Tell me... Who is this 'Deatheye?' It sounds like a powerful monster according to your story..."

The Legionnaire whistled as he threw a few logs into the fire. "Deatheye... We call her the Mistress of Nightmares. She's supposedly among the last of her kind, and created multiple beings like her... Who they were, we don't know anymore. Maybe Vaal does... But he rarely speaks about things he considers useless or not important to current events. She's gone by many names... As Polyphemus... As Umbra... And many more. Vaal says she's either some sort of mutant apoptosis, a manifestation of chaos, or some sort of an entity from beyond our universe lured and set lose into the world through chaos. There's many things we don't understand about the things he summons... But Deatheye seems to be the most persistent and stubborn of them all. Probably not the strongest... That probably belongs either to the weird Adral-something apoptosis that destroyed Xibalba a while back, or the weird girl with purple and blonde hair that wanted to play around for a bit before leaving."

"But, truth be told, they were more dangerous once and then they're gone and never pose a threat to us again. Deatheye never seems to have left us alone, though she's been trapped and sealed in the Shadow Temple for some time now... They say her mere presence recreates and animates the dead. Not in a magic way like Necromancy, but by... doing something, to the victim's mind and soul before twisting them into horrible creature, writhing in that miserable existence in between life and death. They say it's not the good kind of undeath either, like being a lich or sentient zombie, they say it's that awful, agonizing state of being in your final death throes, but for all eternity, while some sort of demon puppets and amasses you and countless others into a crypt where the Sun never shines... Where even we and Death Mountain's monsters refuse to go into. Hell, most of us refuse to accept that it's real... but something tells me good ol' Julius didn't nail Deatheye's coffin in well enough to keep her trapped... Something tells me that demon's coming back, and when she does... All hell will break loose, and her Nightmares will be unleashed... and I doubt there's going to be an awakening... They say that even to this exact minute, if you go deep enough into the Shadow Temple, you'll hear her drumbeat... One... two... three, **_four!_** One... two... three, **_four!_** One... two... three, **_four!_** "

Cassandra thought on that. Certainly a macabre tale... But maybe that's all just myth and superstition. Just as how most commoner monsters believed that even the lowliest angel could beat the Monster Lord, she was sure that this tale about this... "Deatheye," was all exaggerations and paranoia taken to an extreme, assuming that this supposed "demon" even existed.

"Well... If we're sharing apocalypse stories, then let me tell one..." Cassandra said, remembering hearing about the Pirate Queen Selene and her untimely demise by the Calamity Box's "Treasure."

"There was a Great Pirate Queen, Selene, who had never lost a battle, and could charm most men to her side with her 'carrot.' She was renowned for her skill in battle, as well as the treasures she stole and gained. No one, not even the Monster Lord's Navy, could corner and capture her for good. She wound up taking so much treasure, that she had to put some of her hoard into a cave somewhere with Poseidon's Bell... Yet, she fell in the end due to her own greed and foolishness."

"For she took the Calamity Box, a treasure said to contain something linked to the Dark Goddess herself, and dismissed it as mere treasure. Oh, yes, the most _valuable_ and _priceless_ of all treasures in the Mamono Civilizations, but still... it was just treasure."

"But, in the end, she was wrong, and in her foolishness and greed, she unleashed the Beelzebubs, a race of highly reproductive and evil demon flies linked to Alipheese the First herself along with the ancient race of Pabilsags. The Calamity Box was indeed linked to Alipheese the First... But hardly in the way she or most humans knew. It was a trap, a seal meant to contain the traitorous race of monster-girls who turned against their creator in a bid to conquer the world... The Dark Goddess sank their island, and sealed all of them within the box for their insolence, and cast the box away to never be seen or used again. How many Beelzebubs she unleashed is unknown... But she supposedly committed suicide by trapping herself and everyone on the ship with an artifact known as the Jewel of the Rotten World. And so, the foolish human died to her own arrogance and greed, taking her remaining treasure, crew, and some say even the Purple Orb with her... As for how I know this... Well, anyone with a keen eye and contacts would be able to learn the truth behind history... And anyone with knowledge on sealing magic would know that inevitably, the Beelzebubs will break free, and with only one man, they'll breed an army to storm the world within a matter of days..."

A Legionnaire chuckled, "You see that as a good thing they're sealed. To us, that's bad. An army that can replace its numbers in a matter of days? What joy! It'll be a battle like no other before! Countless deaths, glorious combat! It would be something to truly be loved and held dear. Such a pity that we do not have time for mere myths and tales... Then again, to delay combat is to delay honor and valor."

"And, what if they're stronger than you think they are? What if one alone can crush you like an ant?" Cassandra countered.

He smiled, "Then all the more reason to grow stronger... That would be evidence to support that that there are always greater powers and heights to achieve... The concept of perfection is a false broken one, no matter how you think about it."

The Nereneid simply sighed, shaking her head. Human stupidity... Always a factor, no matter how different the people or culture might be, it just so happens to manifest and take different forms.

"Heh... Well, how about another story before stopping? The little one over there looks bored," a Legionnaire said, pointing out Emily looking extremely drowsy and already falling asleep on Cassandra's shoulder.

Cassandra saw no harm in it, and simply agreed, letting him tell one more tale before carrying Emily off to bed and going to sleep.

"They tell tales of a monster, high up in Death Mountain... They say entire Legions go into its cave, and never come out... Nobody knows what it looks like. Nobody has ever left. All we know is that there's _something_ in Death Mountain, and it kills everything that enters its domain... We call that place the 'Devil's Cavern.' If you ever come to our land, into Death Mountain, then by Lord Zenith, _don't_ go there. You got me? Don't go to that place. Only death is consistent around in that hellhole..."

The Legionnaire hummed, before going on, "Well... I guess it's kind of a lie when I say nobody knows what it looks like. I hear Big Bjorn once went in, and stayed in there for weeks on end, before finally coming back out. Problem is, the man never speaks. At all. Judging from the marks and bruises on him though, we guessed that whatever's in that cave was _big_."

Cassandra blinked. "Big... Bjorn? And what do you call that thing in the cave? Surely you must have a name for it..." These people were already fairly bulky and tall by normal human standards. What the hell was considered _"Big"_ by _their_ standards?

"One of our most prominent fighters in the arena. Bjorn lives up in an isolated mountain to do his training and fighting, so we don't hear from him often. As for whatever's in the Devil's Cavern... Well, we call it the Laestrygonian."

 _These people have an arena? And how come they can pronounce Lae-Stry-Gonian but they can't pronounce my name?... But I admit, such a creature capable of inspiring such fear... It must be a monster... And I'll be certain that it's one of the first things I consume..._ Cassandra thought with mild irritation, before shrugging. "Interesting tales... Well, I think my daughter needs to go to bed now. I'll see you all tomorrow."

"See ya 'round!" the Legionnaires kept on talking and cooking more food as Cassandra left with Emily, the Mother slowly coming to understand the ideals and history of these humans more and more...

* * *

 _ **...**_

A farmer wandered around the ashen fields of his village, weary and tired.

"Daughter? Rebecca? Where are you two?" he said, sifting through the wreckage and burnt ruins of his neighbors' old homes. "Rebecca? Anyone? Come on... Please answer me..."

He sighed upon seeing the remains of the former village trader. It was a pitiful and saddening sight, even now...

"Rebecca! Come on, don't do this to me... Goddess Ilias, please don't do this to me..." he said in between tears, straining with all of his might to lift the wreckage out of the way.

But, he saw nothing but dust, and ashes, swept away by the winds...

In time, the farmer sat down, twisting and wringing his hat out in fear and worry. He hoped to Ilias almighty that his family was safe... He was out of the town the other day to sell his crops.

He never thought his parting words with his wife would be an argument. He had thought that by the time he got back, he could talk to her, sort things out and make up, he never— He never thought that...

He staggered up to his feet, and kept on searching, praying to the Goddess that his family was safe, that even if he had to lose everything, they were still fine...

Yet, in despair, he soon finally came to the conclusion that all hope was lost—

His family was gone. His farm was gone. His neighbors were gone. His entire hometown and community were gone to the winds...

A faint, ghastly white figure came into his sights, carrying the butchered and burnt corpses somewhere...

The Farmer, with nothing to live for, followed the ghost, and came to a mass grave.

That horrid, haunting entity soon placed the corpses in individual graves, closing their eyes and then burying them.

"Who are you? Where's my family!?" the Farmer shouted, attempting to remain brave in the face of the entity.

The Ghost turned, and he saw what was under that glimmering, bright shawl.

A gaunt skull, with two pulsating, rotting eyeballs just barely kept inside their sockets. Dried, pruned flesh, stretched across its face, teeth jutting out from its mouth to form a complete, uneven row of teeth fitting in perfectly with one another in unison. A long, flowing beard, floating up in the air much like a drowned victim.

As for what else was under its shawl, it was impossible to tell.

The Ghost seemed to ignore his question, simply drifting off.

Outraged, the farmer followed it, intending to force it to answer him what had happened, and why this happened.

Only to come to the Ghost drifting solemnly over two particular bodies, one barely breathing.

"Re-Rebecca! Lizzy!" the Farmer quickly dropped to his knees, trying to see if they were alive.

The Wife, Rebecca, was dead, but his daughter wasn't...

"Pl-Please! Help her!" the Farmer begged, looking up at the ghost.

The ghost looked at her, and simply closed her eyes, holding up a finger to its mouth in a "Ssssh..." motion.

The Farmer remained silent, focusing solely on his daughter, ignoring everything else. Yet as time went on, he could not help but notice the ghost was only digging one grave, and that, by some miracle of Ilias Almighty, his daughter's breathing got more and more stable and consistent.

In time, the Ghost drifted over to his wife's corpse, and prepared to carry her to her grave, when the Farmer got in between the two.

"Wa-wait... At least let me bury her... Let me do her one last good thing before I say goodbye to her forever..."

The Ghost paused, and nodded in sympathetic silence.

The Farmer's face was stained in tears and mud by the time he was finally done laying his long-time lover and partner to rest forever.

Yet, as that horrid ordeal was completed, he swore, for a moment, that he saw his wife's peaceful, serene face give him one last kiss before bidding him goodbye until he too, died.

And, that was all he needed to keep going on with his daughter, even if they had nothing left.

He looked at the Ghost to thank him, yet, as he looked to where that Ghost once was...

There was nothing, but a serene mass of graves, given a true, proper burial...

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hello again everyone. Back with a smaller than usual chapter, but I guess it's better than nothing. I also decided to remove the previous sidestory, since I've then had a few changes in the plot and history of things and that sidestory was sort of unimportant anyways.

Anyways, I believe I have one review to answer...

 **Fish on Land:** It really is. I think if I have any more scenes that really push the rating I'll boot this story up to an M-Rating. It was fun to write though, and people seemed to like it, so maybe a similar scene will pop up soon and that's when I decide to change the rating. Glad to see you liked it though!

Heh, nice to see someone get both easter eggs at once. I knew Morrigan was an easy one, but I didn't expect many to get the Pure White Devil. Nice.

It'll be seen soon enough once he gets there.

As for love... Well, different cultures see things in different lights.

Well, with that all said and done, that's all I have to say and show! So, without further ado, I will see you all later!

* * *

One...

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	11. Released

_**...**_

Julius paced around, deep in thought. "Apollyon... What truly is your goal? Why are you here? How do you intend to achieve your goals?"

 _"Have I not answered this before, Julius?"_ Apollyon said, _"I came to stem the flow of chaos, and to exterminate the abominations that crawled into this multiverse through the gaping holes that chaos eroded in various timelines."_

"You didn't answer the latter two. What really brought you _here_ , to me? What is your strategy?"

Apollyon sighed. Julius was too smart and stubborn for his own good. _"This land is... Not normal. There are a rare few timelines where there is just something... really strange about the geography of the area. Sometimes heaven has fallen to create a continent of snow, sometimes there are entire civilizations and bizarre entities that fall in from other worlds to the timeline they wind up in... This one is one of those examples. There **isn't** supposed to be a continent of this size in the normal, 'perfect' timeline. Maybe a few islands, but not an outright continent._ _Alipheese was never meant to come here, nor were her earliest creations meant to mutate into the monsters we see on this land. A group of human colonists arriving here outright puts the nail in this timeline's coffin. There **will** be chaos infesting this land."_

Julius took special note of that. Alipheese. The same bitch that helped sparked off the war between her and Ilias to begin with, the so-called "Dark Goddess" and "Monster Lord." She too, was responsible for these monsters?

Part of him missed the monster-girls from his homeland overseas; they could at least be _reasoned_ with most of the time.

But the majority of him thought that she was better off sticking to these monsters. Much less moral nuance and "But they can think!" arguments for Alipheese's human worshippers to fall back on.

And at the same time, it was bloody, glorious violence and war, not depraved sex and rape.

Granted, rape was a weapon, but still... He felt that it was more honorable to just stab your foe rather than molest them. Wasn't it more effective too?

Who knew... Maybe Alipheese was just more retarded when she ditched this land...

Pushing that thought aside, Julius simply looked at Apollyon, "I understand. You fail to mention what your plan to stop the chaos is though."

 _"I am still thinking it through,"_ Apollyon said, _"But I feel this could be a major victory. A timeline like this... It deviates so far from the 'perfect' timeline that it's almost inevitable that it will be devoured... But if I stop the chaos from destroying this world, then that potentially opens up a wide array of effects to happen in the aftermath... It is my hope that stopping the chaos in this timeline will... do away, with those silly requirements needed for a timeline to exist without fear of chaos."_

"Well... What are these so-called requirements?"

 _"... Well, no harm in telling you. First, Alipheese the First is forced to seal herself by Goddess Ilias threatening to destroy the world, then 500 years pass with Alipheese Fateburn the Eighth, otherwise known as 'Black Alice,' waging a war against humanity only to be defeated by the hero Heinrich Hein. Heinrich then wages a one-man war against Ilias and the Heavens, and is trapped in the Sealed Sinner's Prison. Roughly around this time, Ilias saves Black Alice and pardons Promestein, resulting in the Second Seraph Lucifina rebelling and vanishing from Heaven's affairs._

 _"About 470 years later, Ilias causes the Slaughter of Remina due to the city's science experiments and them allowing monsters and humans to exist side-by-side... Though this does come with First Seraph Micaela rebelling, leading to her forming Enrika later on as a refuge for monsters and fallen angels on Ilias Continent. Roughly 20 more years pass, and Alipheese the Fifteenth is slain by the heroes Marcellus, Lazarus, Karen, and Merlin, though the former two are crippled by Alipheese the Sixteenth and the latter two are outright killed. This leads to Marcellus and Lazarus forming Ilias Kreuz, a terrorist organization dedicated to killing monsters..._

 _"However, Marcellus falls in love with Lucifina, and the two have a child known as Luka Hein. This causes Marcellus to mellow out, and in time, undermine Ilias Kreuz's operations, leading Lazarus to accidentally kill him. Some time later, and Ilias finds out that Lucifina has sealed herself to become a human, and attempts to convince her to return by inflicting her with a plague... Which led to her death, because Lucifina refused to unseal herself and return._

 _"About 10 or so years later... And Marcellus' child Luka Hein matures, embarking on his journey for coexistence. Early on, he encounters Alipheese the Sixteenth, though he is not aware of her true identity. After that... Well, long story short, Luka manages to attain the power of the Four Spirits, and slays the Goddess Ilias after exposing her lies to the world, allowing true coexistence to take place. He would soon marry Alipheese the Sixteenth, and they lived happily ever after... The End."_

Julius stood there, blinking in confusion. "That... Is a lot to take in at once, and sounds like you left out a lot of history and important details."

 _"I did, as I don't feel like reciting events that took place during the course of a thousand years. What matters is that what I just summarized is what the 'perfect' timeline is... And nothing else can happen. Ilias cannot ever be slain by Heinrich. Alipheese the First cannot win the Great Monster Wars. Luka **cannot** be allowed to die. Which, as you might imagine..."_

"Causes a lot of timelines to be automatically null and become infested with Chaos," Julius guessed.

 _"Precisely. If I could just break that mold, if there could just be an event to eradicate chaos until it was nothing more than a close equivalent to natural_ _entropy... Then this 'perfect' timeline concept would no longer cause this to happen."_

"... What if there is something controlling the Chaos, and it just so happens to not target that timeline out of fear for killing itself? Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Light, and Darkness all have a 'Goddess' of sorts... why not Chaos?..." Julius muttered.

 _"There might be, but I do not recall much about it. I cannot even tell if there is a Goddess, a Spirit, or maybe even both of those roaming about... All I know is that a malevolent one does exist, but she is fated to be dealt with by another group, another world. For now, all I can tell is that the chaos is directed towards anything that deviates from this 'perfect' timeline concept... And if there is no 'perfect' timeline? Then hopefully there won't be anymore serious chaos infections anymore..."_

Julius simply narrowed his eyes. It sounded extremely contrived. Was it one or two Chaos Gods? Was it a spirit like Salamander and Sylph, or a Goddess like Alipheese and Ilias? And more importantly... What _really_ was her plan? It sounded like blind stupidity to hope something would work when there was clearly something with influence over the chaos somewhere behind the scenes, and he _knew_ that Apollyon wasn't that dumb...

Or maybe she was, he didn't know. She thought putting him in a borderline iron coffin was a good idea after all...

 _Whatever your plan might be, I have a better one... Deal with the source myself instead of hoping for destiny and coincidence to take place. I will take control of the life I'm given and surpass all others... I won't just roll over like most and blindly pray in hopes of "salvation." Ones like even you, it seems..._ Julius thought, still conflicted on what to make of Apollyon's true intentions and indeed, her intelligence, as he and the apoptosis moved on...

* * *

 _ **...**_

In more modern times, Lord Zenith and the Spider Princess simply sat a table, eating dinner while planning their next target.

"I believe that we should leave Grangold behind for a later date," Zenith mused, "Marching through the Noah Region will presumably provide more resources and supplies to sustain my centuries as we go from place to place."

"It is the logical course of action, and they expect it. They will be fortifying their cities and outposts. Going back to raid Goddard may be a wiser choice if it is supplies that you want," Charlotte answered, pointing out the location wasn't too far from the original border-fortress that the Arachne Clan and Legion initially fought at.

"That is true... But then there is Esta not too far away... And of course, the city of Grand Noah itself..."

"The capital will be the most difficult out of all the nations to take if they decide to barricade and fortify themselves in, excepting Hellgondo and the Monster Lord's Castle of course. There will be powerful monsters and disciplined guards working there, unlike Grangold and their reliance on the Ant Girls and Golems..."

"To be fair," Zenith said, "A golem _can_ be a very tough fight... If made right. Lazy fools they are though, the golems are likely suitable only to swat aside the occasional wild monster."

Charlotte giggled, "And against my spiders, they're nothing if not fragile. They don't have much intelligence, so it's _really_ easy to get them caught up in our webs..."

"Really now... Have you ever raided Grangold itself then? It seems like the only place that we would find a concentration of these golems at."

"From time to time," Charlotte admitted, "But never a full-on war. There would be too much risk to my forces to have a practical victory. I prefer a more... agile approach. A hit-and-run tactic. Take what we want from the outer areas of the city, and then bolt off before they can muster their forces... Now, I _know_ that you're so, _so_ big on the whole 'honor' and 'valor' thing, but I prefer to stay alive to fight another day rather than get squashed under twenty oversized stone fucktoys the people of Grangold made."

Zenith chuckled, "You've learned about me and my people's core values well. I can't say I am angered... We have different cultures, from different _continents_ , and so it is natural that we might have a few different outlooks on life and war."

She seemed a bit surprised, "I didn't expect you to respond like a civilized, rational person. I expected you to act like an angry, blind barbarian."

"I would like to consider myself a semi-learned and wise man among my people. Sometimes I like to think it is good to not try and stab or bludgeon someone to death, especially if they are your ally or friend..."

"(Or Mistress...)" Charlotte muttered under her breath.

"... And along with that, I would suppose it is smart to let people maintain their religion and ways of life... Even if the Legion's Code and Gods are objectively and morally better. I personally cannot stand slavery however..."

Charlotte sweated slightly, "Sl-slavery now? Why is that?..." she asked.

"It's a sign of laziness. Why should a man trust another to make his food, to grow his crops, when he could do it himself? To have that pride and joy of making his own living, his own work, instead of letting another do it for him? Why should I feed and house someone so inferior as to be less than human, someone who is considered not even a creature or animal, but mere _property?_ I would trust a brainless monster to clean the halls of Avalon before I let someone that is but mere property do it for me. For Farmers will make their crops and food, blacksmiths shall make their armor and weapons, and so on, for they enjoy their work, and relish in it, but there is no room for a good-for-nothing, less-than-human _slave_ in the Legion. I would sooner feed them to the monsters rather than bother 'owning' or even just killing one of them..."

Charlotte sighed in relief. "I see... I suppose that makes sense. You don't like them because they don't live up to your standard of 'being human?'"

Octavius nodded vigorously, _"Yes._ I completely detest them because of that. They are worthless if they do not attempt to show defiance or fight back against someone who would take their humanity away from them! It utterly goes against both the ideas of willpower and earning your own share in life that we in the Legion treasure..."

The Spider Princess hummed, before simply saying, "Personally I allow it because they are worthless. If they don't have the power or the intellect to be useful, then why should we bother treating them like equals? They are better as cattle and meals to breed and prey on..."

"... Cattle?" the Legion Lord said, "... That's... By Julius, the people of this land are more pathetic than I thought if you can so easily term them as such... Do they not have basic pride!?"

"Some do. Most don't, and simply pray to their Goddess for hope and salvation."

"About the only 'salvation' I'd give them is to tell them to work and rebel until they were free either in the fields or in death..." Zenith remarked. "I must ask though... Who are the Gods of this land?"

"Humanity mostly prays to Goddess Ilias, their creator. I and many other monsters however, pray to Alipheese the First, the Dark Goddess. Ilias is a Goddess of Light, and ruler of the Angels and Heaven. She also happens to utterly despise us monsters and maintains a strong chokehold on humanity to try and keep them away from us. Alipheese the First on the other hand... While it is true her bloodline has diluted until her current descendent and the incumbent Monster Lord is little more than a human-hugging moron, she mostly had ideals of absolute freedom; she didn't care what her worshippers did, so as long as they remembered and worshipped her for who she really was."

 _Nothing like a title calling you the "Dark Goddess" to reel in those monsters... I wonder how Ymir and his brothers would have reacted to this Dark Goddess, or any of the monsters back at home really... Hell, I wonder how they would've reacted to these monsters?_ Zenith thought, before saying, "My people prefer to work off a merit-based system, and our religion reflects this. I became the undisputed God of my people because of my might and valor on the battlefield, but there are lesser 'deities' who have smaller churches and sects, but are still venerated nonetheless. If you are wondering, yes, that means I am still human. I just happen to be better at being human than my fellow legionnaires. I cannot make these thunderstorms inexplicably happen, nor can I say someone goes to Heaven or Hell. Those roles go to our more mysterious and supernatural forefathers in the afterlife."

"So if I poke you right now, you can't electrocute me without using a spell unlike say... Ilias?" Charlotte asked, smugly smirking.

"I hate using magic at all, but yes."

Charlotte then poked Zenith, and yelped when she felt a small jolt of static electricity.

A small silence passed, before the two began to chuckle and giggle... Before they erupted into full-blown laughter, rolling around by how ironic that coincidence was.

In time, the two eventually sat up again, still amused and smiling.

"Say... Charlotte, you claimed to raid human settlements, right? Is that outlawed by your Leg-... Er, Monster Lord?" Zenith said, reflecting on how similar Legion Lord and Monster Lord sounded.

"Yes, but I don't care," Charlotte said, a look of contempt on her face when Alipheese XVI was brought up. "She's a fool with no backbone or experience in ruling. She could never hope to wisely rule over all of the monster tribes, clans, and kingdoms without using brute force. Besides... I kept up my way of life until now, and I won't be stopping anytime soon."

Zenith nodded, humming thoughtfully before asking: "Are there other queens like you?"

"Monster Queens like me..." Charlotte tapped her fingers. "I suppose the Vampire and Mermaid Queens are like me. They don't particularly think too highly of humans, though the Vampire Queen would treat her humans like second-class citizens while the Mermaid Queen would ignore or drown any humans she came across... I guess the Heavenly Knight Erubetie is also like me to some extent, but she's loyal to Alipheese XVI and does not go out of her way to attack humanity... I think she's usually off sulking in some hidden paradise for slimes..."

"I see... Intriguing. I will have to keep this in mind," Zenith said, making sure to remember it for potential encounters he could have with them, "Now then... Where to go, where to go..."

"I still think we should backtrack to Goddard..." Charlotte reminded him, sighing as he kept weighing his options.

* * *

 _ **...**_

Ran sighed, relaxing as she used her tentacles to hold multiple watering cans to tend to the garden. It had become _really_ easy lately ever since Cassandra and Emily left, almost as if like there wasn't a constant mess to clean up...

Especially in Cassandra's room, good _god._ There was always some leftover flesh or slime that needed to be cleaned up and disposed of when Cassandra left her room, otherwise mold would set in, it would begin to have an odor, and so on!

And Emily too... While Cassandra couldn't help her situation, Emily was worse, always leaving behind a mess in her room, usually of papers that had various songs and writings she had...

But now? Well, nothing to worry about! After all, this may have been a village of maneating, horrifying, depraved mamono, but this was a _civilized_ village of maneating, horrifying, depraved mamono!

 _I should probably go and fetch groceries now... I'm sure Lady Cassandra won't mind me restocking the house using her funds every now and again, as per the usual,_ Ran thought, soon finishing up her gardening and putting the tools back in the shed.

Eventually, she walked down to town, crossing paths with two women; one dressed in a black and red dress with blonde hair, and the other with a frilly white dress with black hair. Madame Umbrella and Madame Insect, as the two were known in the village, and for good reason: they were particularly strong and refined even when compared to other monsters of the village.

"Good day to you, Miss Ran. Might I inquire as to why Lady Cassandra and Lady Emily have been absent from the village as of late?" Madame Insect questioned.

Ran thought it prudent to not give away her mistress' true intentions, and simply said "Lady Cassandra has taken her daughter out for training and to observe the knights' march. She has grown curious of them and thought it wise to follow them for a time, perhaps eating some of their men or victims in the process. How long that time is, I do not know."

Technically not a lie. But not the full truth either.

"Really now?" Madame Umbrella wondered out loud, "It must be a rather barbaric, if fascinating experience. I suppose even Lady Cassandra herself has had a time out in the wilderness back when her mother was the village chief... Perhaps it will prove to a good and educational experience for Lady Emily too."

"Indeed, I do hope this experience is useful to them, though I can only hope they do not get themselves into too much trouble..." Ran said.

"You fear too much, there is almost nothing on this world that can face off against Lady Cassandra herself, and Lady Emily is almost at the level of a monster noble as well, so she too cannot be felled as easily as most would assume a child to be. I have faith that they will be just fine on their adventures," Madame Insect said, though her face soon turned grim. "I do not have faith that our food supplies will last however... Not when Candy is out and about again, being a troublesome nuisance as always."

An audible sigh came from Ran. Candy was known to be a relatively strong and adept witch living in the village who, true to her name, loved candy and other various sweets, and had a seemingly endless appetite. She _used_ to stay under control when Lady Cassandra was around to scare her into not greedily eating up all the food, but it seemed to no longer be the case now...

"I shall take care of it," Ran promised, "I was to going get groceries after all."

"Then best of luck to you, Miss Ran!" Madame Insect said, waving her farewell along with Madame Umbrella as the two walked off.

 _Luck... Yes, I only have to deal with a greedy, childish monster with a penchant for turning monsters and people into sweets..._ Ran thought with dread, heading towards the stores...

* * *

 _ **...**_

King Grangold soon walked in, noticing the Queen Ant still in her seal, as expected.

"... What do you want?" Antine-Ann asked, a dull and annoyed look in her eyes.

"It's been several days since the Spider Princess went to Gold Fort. I have reason to suspect she has either died by this point or betrayed me, for why wouldn't she come to collect the debt I would supposedly owe her?"

"And I care... why?"

The King raised his hand defensively, "Now, now, let me make my point! I... Understand, that we... Have abused your daughters and people."

"I think that is a severe understatement."

"I... I know it is... And, only now do I understand what it feels like to begin losing everything, to watch things... fall apart."

The Queen Ant simply looked at him quizzically, wondering where he was trying to go with this.

"I want... I would like, to try and extend an olive branch of sorts..." the King said, semi-fumbling his words, "And I would prefer it if we could try to forget the past and... reconcile, to focus on our greater enemy."

"... Don't you already have authority over all that I _used_ to rule? Why would you need my assistance?"

"Mhhmph..." the King looked to be quite interested in his shoes for a while, before gulping and bluntly saying: "I'm sorry for what we did... I am willing to set you free and allow you to restore your daughters back to normal. Even if we all die, they should at least get to die as who they are."

Antine-Ann looked shocked for a bit, blinking and just staring blankly at him, before she began to giggle.

"Ha... You're joking, right? Why do you care if my daughters die as 'who they are?' What would someone like you, someone who enslaved some of them their whole lives and kept as brainless drones, know about that!?"

The King had a dour look on his face, before sighing. "Then... think about it tactically. It would be more prudent for us to have your military advice and active help on the battlefield against the invaders."

"And why shouldn't I just join them? They sound more appealing than you would ever be," she huffed.

"Because the Spider Princess likely joined them. Think about that. _She_ could have joined them. If that happened, then just what kind of people are they to be happy to take her in, assuming they didn't just butcher her like the murderers they are?... You think they would treat you any differently? And if the Spider Princess _is_ alive, then what makes you think she'd want you there?"

The Ant Queen paused, gritting her teeth. "I see."

"... If it is of any worth or value, I am willing to give a good part of the Gold territory to you. I am willing to make treaties and negotiations. Surely we can come to a compromise and compensate you, right?..."

"I don't see what you have that I can't possibly take on my own with or without my daughters, but I will consider the thought."

"Then... Let us at least agree to a ceasefire then. A pact of neutrality and mutual benefit in the face of this threat," King Grangold said, moving towards where the control consoles were, tapping and messing with the devices until his finger was on a single switch. "I can set you and your people free right now. We just need to be able to overcome and learn from the past... and survive the threat facing the both of us."

Antine-Ann thought off... "Are you... Are you serious?"

"Yes. I only await for your answer."

The Ant Queen hissed, not wanting to let go of the decades of suffering she went through at the nation's hands, and yet... Well, she supposed her children and colony's future came before avenging the past.

"... I agree. I promise on my honor as a Monster Queen serving underneath the Monster Lord herself to maintain a neutrality pact and help you against this threat facing both my children and your nation."

A small smile came across King Grangold's face. "I see then. Very well, if that is what you say, Ant Queen Antine-Ann..."

He hit the switch, and the seal was broken.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Well... This is uh... A bit late. Yeah. Been a bit busy, to say the least.

So, yeah... Review/PM-Answering Time.

 **Runningstar bloodrage:** One... two... three... Four!

 **Fun and joy:** I would say the Legion functions off a moral that is entirely different from conventional morals. It's like comparing Hammurabi's Code to modern laws, or comparing the Greeks' culture (Excepting the Spartans, obviously) to a Viking's, the Spanish's to the Aztecs', or even comparing some nations like America to their earlier phases, such as Pre-Civil War America, or Russia to the Soviet Union. They are fundamentally and usually morally different in what is "right" and what is "wrong."

(Other PMs, I have already answered some time ago.)

So, uh... Yeah. Make sure to follow and review if you liked this, I really do appreciate the input and opinions.

And, without further ado, I will see you all later!


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